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iib OF ALLEGIANCE IN 



COLo. JAL NEW ENGLAND 



BY 
CHARLES EVANS 



IKmttitan IHnfiquarian ^txtitlti 



OATHS OF ALLEGIANCE IN 
COLONIAL NEW ENGLAND 



BY 
CHARLES EVANS 



Reprinted fhom the Phocbedinqb of the American Antiquarian Society 
FOR October, 1921 



WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A. 

PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY 

1922 



A'S"^ 



E I8T 



The Davis Press 
Worcester, MAssAcansETTS 



Gift 
Attthotr 

DEC £1321 



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OATHS OF ALLEGIANCE 
IN COLONIAL NEW ENGLAND 



THE antiquity of the custom of giving and taking 
Oaths, or the debatable questions of their 
observance being a religious or legal ceremony, and 
whether the moral or political aspect has the greater 
effect upon the minds of men, are subjects with which 
this paper has nothing to do. 

And as the substance of Oaths for particular 
officers is to engage them to a faithful discharge of their 
places and trusts to the best of their ability, it has been 
considered, in general, unnecessary to give them, 
especially as these offices carry with them the assump- 
tion that the general Oaths required of all citizens have 
first been complied with. No Oaths of office were 
administered or required in the New Plymouth Colony, 
the power of the Church being, in effect, superior to 
the civil power. 

For the main purpose of this paper it will not be 
necessary to go further back in history than to the 
reign of James the First, of England, 1603-1625, 
during which time the providences of God directed 
the course of the voyage of the Pilgrims away from 
the Colony of Virginia to their settlement at Ply- 
mouth in New England, in December, 1620; or to 
carry the subject beyond the time, in the short-lived 
reign of James the Second, 1685-1689, when, in 
December, 1686, Sir Edmund Andros, knight, arrived 
in Boston with a commission to govern New England, 
and the Colonial period of New England came to an 
end. 



In England. 

When Henry the Eighth renounced the authority of 
the Pope, in 1534, an Act of Parliament was obtained 
declaring him the only supreme head of the Church in 
England on the earth; and utterly abolishing the 
authority of the Roman Pontiff within the British 
Dominions. To give effect to this Act there was 
further enacted: 

The Oath of Supremacy 

I, A. B. do utterly testifie and declare in my Conscience, that 
the Kings Highness is the only Supream Governour of this 
Realm, and of all other His Highness Dominions and Countries, 
as well in all Spiritual and Ecclesiastical things (or causes) as 
Temporal : And that no Forraign Prince, Person, Prelate, State, 
or Potentate, hath, or ought to have any jurisdiction, power, 
superiority, preheminence or authority. Ecclesiastical or 
Spiritual within this Realm : and therefore I do utterly renounce 
and forsake all forreign jurisdiction, powers, superioritie, and 
authorities, and do promise that from henceforth I shall bear 
Faith and true Allegiance to the Kings Highness, His Heirs and 
lawful Successors, and (to my power) shall assist and defend all 
jurisdiction, priviledge, preheminence, & authority granted or 
belonging to the Kings Highness, His Heirs and Successors, and 
united and annexed to the imperial Crown of the Realm. So 
help me God, &c. 

The Act of Supremacy which broke the power of the 
Roman Catholic Church in England, under Henry the 
Eighth, and his successor, Edward the Sixth, was re- 
pealed under Mary Tudor, and revived under Eliza- 
beth, in 1558. Following the Gunpowder Plot, James 
the First, in 1605, had enacted an Oath of Allegiance, 
also, which all British subjects were required to take. 
This Oath of "submission and obedience to the King as. 
a temporal Sovereign, independent of any other power 
upon earth" contained no acknowledgment of the 
King as the head of the Church, and, by this omission, 
Roman Catholics could take it without denying the 
supremacy of the Pope in spiritual affairs: 



Tenor of The Oath of Allegiance, &c. to be Taken and 
Subscribed by Recusants 

^ I, A.B. doe truely and sincerely acknowledge pfesse 
testifie and declare in my Conscience before God and the 
Worlde, That our Soveraigne Lorde Kinge James is lawfuU and 
rightful! King of this Reahne and of all other his Majesties 
Dominions and Countries; And that the Pope, neither of 
himselfe nor by any Authority of the Churche or Sea of Rome, 
or by any other meanes with any other, hath any Power or 
Authoritye to depose the King or to dispose any of his Majesties 
Kingdomes or Dominions, or to authorize any Forraigne 
Prince to invade or annoy hym or his Countries, or to dis- 
charge any of his Subjects of their AUegiaunce and Obedience 
to his Majestie, or to give Licence or Leave to any of them to 
beare Armes raise Tumult or to offer any violence or hurte to 
his Majestie Royall Pson State or Government or to any of his 
Majesties Subjects within his Majesties Dominions. Also I 
doe sweare from my heart, that notwithstanding any Declara- 
con or Sentence of Excommunicacon or Deprivacon made or 
graunted or to be made or graunted by the Pope or his Suc- 
cessors, or by any Authoritie derived or ptended to be derived 
from hym or his Sea against the saide King his Heires or 
Successors, or any Absolution of the saide Subjects from theire 
Obedience; I will beare Faithe and true AUegiaunce to his 
Majestie his Heires and Successors, and hym or them will 
defend to the uttermost of my power against all Conspiracies 
and Attempts whatsoever which shalbe made against his or 
theire persons theire Crowne and Dignitie by reason or colour 
of any such Sentence or Declaracon or otherwise, and will doe 
my best endevour to disclose and make knowen unto his 
Majestie his Heires and Successors all Treasons and traiterous 
Conspiracies which I ^all knowe or heare of to be against 
hjrm or any of them. (And I doe further sweare, That I doe 
from my heart abhor, detest and abjure as impious] and 
hereticall this damnable Doctrine and Position, that Princes 
which be excomunicated or deprived by the Pope may be 
deposed or murthered by theire Subjects or any other who- 
soever. And I doe beleeve and in my Conscience am resolved, 
that neither the Pope nor any pson whatsoever hath power to 
absolve me of this Oath or any parte therof , which I acknowl- 
edge by good and full Authoritye to be lawfully ministered 
unto mee, and doe renounce all Pardons and Dispensacons to 
the contrarie; And all these things I do plainly and sincerely 
acknowledge and sweare, according to these expresse wordes by 
me spoken, and according to the playne and comon sense and 
understanding of the same wordes, without any equivocacon 



or mentall evasion or secret reservacon whatsoever; And I doe 
make this recognicon and acknowledgment heartily willingly 
and truly upon the true Faithe of a Christian: So help me 
God. Unto which Oath so taken, the saide pson shall sub- 
scribe his or her Name or Marke. [1605.] 

Both of these Oaths were commanded during the 
reign of Charles the First, 1625-1649. 

By the third Charter of the Virginia Company, their 
Treasurer, or any two of the Council, were empowered 
to adminster the Oaths of Supremacy, and of Alle- 
giance, to all persons going to their Colony. And the 
Pilgrims, through their chief men, agreed with the 
Virginia Company: ''The Oath of Supremacy we 
shall willingly take, if it be required of us, if that 
convenient satisfaction be not given by our taking 
the Oath of Allegiance. John Robinson. William 
Brewster." 

The Charter of the Massachusetts-Bay Company 
gave them broader powers in that it did not exact 
this provision from them but gave the Company 
liberty to admit new members, called "Freemen" of 
the Company, and no method, conditions, or qualifica- 
tions were presented for conferring this privilege. 
Their leaders, as we shall see, were quick to take ad- 
vantage of the opportunity given them to frame their 
own Oaths of citizenship. Too late the government 
in England, or rather that part which was representa- 
tive of the Church of England, realized the powers of 
colonization this gave the dissenting churchmen ; and, 
in 1637, a Proclamation was issued, aimed principally 
to prevent the emigration of Puritan Ministers, which 
commanded that none should be suffered to go to New 
England "without a certificate that they had taken 
the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance, and had con- 
formed to the discipline of the Church of England." 
In 1638, another Proclamation "commanded owners 
and masters of vessels that they do not fit out any with 
passengers and provisions to New-England, without 
license from the Commissioners of Plantations. " 



Another Oath, drawn up in England, also claims a 
place here because it was sometimes voluntarily taken 
by settlers in the New England Colonies. In the year 
1655, during the Protectorate of OHver Cromwell, an 
Oath, probably similar to that prescribed by the 
Rump Parliament to the Council of State, was enacted 
which was known as: 

The Oath of Abjuration 

I do hereby swear that I do renounce the pretended title of 
Charles Stuart, and the whole Une of the late King James; and of 
any other person, as a single person pretending, or which shall 
pretend to the crown or government of these nations of England 
Scotland and Ireland, or any of them; and that I will, by the 
grace and assistance of Almighty God, be true, faithful and 
constant to the Parhament, and Commonwealth; and will 
oppose the bringing in, or setting up any single person or House 
of Lords, and every of them, in this Commonwealth. 

Soon after the Restoration, Charles the Second, 
by Proclamation commanded that the Oaths of 
Supremacy and Allegiance be tendered to all persons 
disaffected to the Government and, in case of refusal, 
that they were to be prosecuted under the Statute of 
the 7th of James. During the reign of his Roman 
Catholic successor, James the Second, the Oath of 
Supremacy was allowed to lapse, and the Oath of 
Allegiance, only, was in full force in the Colonies, up to 
the publication of his declaration of liberty of con- 
science for all denominations in England and Scotland, 
in 1687-1688, which sealed his doom. 

These preliminaries are necessary to a full under- 
standing of our subject which naturally begins, in point 
of time, with the settlement 

In New Plymouth Colony. 

Strictly speaking, Plymouth was not a New England 
Colony. It was without a Charter, and the functions 
of its government were those of a Corporation. The 
power of the Oath of Allegiance their leaders had 



8 

assented to always seemed to hang over them, and 
paralyze the initiative they should have taken. Their 
attempts to increase their circumscribed boundaries at 
New Plymouth were futile; and, in the case of their 
attempted settlement in Maine, disastrous both to the 
business reputation of their leaders, and to the Corpo- 
ration. They could spare neither the men nor the 
means from the parent settlement to form permanent 
settlements elsewhere. They seemed doomed to 
failure. And yet hardly that, when we consider the 
impress upon our Nation made by their sterling 
qualities of mind and heart, their patience and forti- 
tude under severe trials, the hopes and ambition of 
their teachings, and their never-failing trust in God's 
Providence. These high qualities still animate and 
live in the great and growing number who proudly 
claim their ancestry from the Pilgrims at New Ply- 
mouth. 

Combination for Foundation of Government 

known as 

The Mayflower Compact 

In y'' name of God, Amen. We whose names are under- 
writen, the loyall subjects of our dread soveraigne Lord, 
King James, by y® grace of God, of Great Britaine, Franc, & 
Ireland, king, defender of y" faith, &c. haveing undertaken, 
for y® glorie of God, and advancement of y® Christian faith, and 
honour of our king and countrie, a voyage to plant y* first 
colonie in y® Northerne parts of Virginia, doe by these presents 
solemnly & mutualy in y® presence of God, and one of another, 
covenant & combine our selves togeather into a civill body 
politick, for our better ordering & preservation & furtherance 
of y^ ends aforesaid ; and by vertue hearof to enacte, constitute, 
and frame such just & equall lawes, ordinances, acts, constitu- 
tions, & offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most 
meete & convenient for y^ general! good of y'' Colonie, unto 
which we promise all due submission and obedience. In 
witnes wherof we have hereunder subscribed our names at 
Cap-Codd y® 11 of November, in y^ year of y^ raigne of our 
soveraigne lord, King James, of England, France, & Ireland 
y® eighteenth, and of Scotland y® fiftie fourth. An°: Dom. 
1620. [Forty-one names.] 



The Mayflower Compact has received full and 
adequate treatment in the paper read before this 
Society in October, 1920, by Arthur Lord, LL.D. 

The exact date of the two forms of Oaths first given 
has not been determined, but they are certainly later 
than the formation of the first Council in 1624. 

Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity 

The forme of Oath which hue in this Colonie 

the 0th of alegance to his maj . 

fidelity to the same. 

You shall sweare by the name of the Great God .... 
& earth & in his holy fear, & presence that you shall not speake, 
or doe, deuise, or aduise, anything or things, acte or acts, directly, 
or indirectly, By land, or water, that doth, shall, or may, tend 
to the destruction or ouerthrowe of this present plantation, 
Coloiiie,or Corporation of this towne PUmouth in New England. 

Neither shall you suffer the same to be spoken, or done, but 
shall hinder, & oposse the same, by all due means you can. 

You shall not enter into any league, treaty, Confederac or 
combination, with any, within the said Colonic or without the 
same that shall plote, or contriue any thing to the hurte, & 
ruine of the growth, and good of the said plantation. 

You shall not consente to any shuch confederation, nor con- 
ceale any known vnto you certainly, or by conje* but shall 
forthwith manifest & make knowne the same, to the Gouernours 
of this said towne for the time being. 

And this you promise & swear, simply, & truly, & faithfully to 
performe as a true christian [you hope for help from God, the 
God of truth & punisher of falshoode.] 

The forme of the Oath which of the 

Gouernour, & CounseU at euery Election of any of them. 

You shall swear, according to that wisdom, and measure of 
discerning giuen vnto you; faithfully, equally & indifrently 
without respect of persons; to administer Justice, in all causes 
coming before you. And shall labor, to aduance, & furder the 
good of this Colony, & plantation, to the vtmost of your power; 
and oppose any thing that may hinder the same. So help you 
God. 

The words, "a, true christian" were afterwards 
crossed out, and the form used later: ''as you hope 
for help from God, the God of truth and punisher of 
falsehood" was substituted. 



10 

By the Laws of 1636, every freeman was required to 
take the following Oath: 

The Oath of a Ffreeman 

You shall be truly loyall to our Sov Lord King Charles, his 
heires & successors, [the State & Govern *^ of England as it now 
stands.] You shall not speake or doe, devise or advise any 
thing or things act or acts directly or indirectly by land or water, 
that doth shall or may tend to the destruccon or overthrow of 
this pfnt plantacons Colonies or Corporacon of New Plymouth, 
Neither shall you suffer the same to be spoken or done but shall 
hinder oppose & discover the same to the Govf & Assistants of 
the said Colony for the tune being or some one of them. You 
shall faithfully submit unto such good & wholesome laws & 
ordnanc & as either are or shall be made for the ordering & 
governm* of the same, and shall endeavor to advance the growth 
& good of the severall Colonies plantations w*'' in the limit & 
of this Corporacon by all due meanes & courses. All w^^ you 
promise & sweare by the name of the great God of heaven & 
earth simply truly & faithfully to pforme as you hope for help 
fro God who is the God of truth & punisher of falsehood. [1636] 

Following the outbreak of civil war in England in 
1638, the words "our sovereign lord King Charles his 
heirs and successors" were erased, and loyalty to 
"the State and Government of England as it now 
stands" substituted. The modern rendering inter- 
mixed is probably an attempt by the transcriber to fill 
out missing or undecipherable paragraphs or sen- 
tences. 

According to Francis Baylies' "Historical IMemolr 
of New Plymouth," (I: 235,) the following Oath was 
prescribed to be taken by any residing in the govern- 
ment of New Plymouth: 

The Oath of a Resident 

You shall be truly loyal to our sovereign lord King Charles, 
his heirs and successors, and whereas you choose at present to 
reside within the government of New Plymouth, you shall not 
do or cause to be done any act or acts directly or indirectly, by 
land or water, that shall tend to the destruction or overthrow of 
the whole or any of the several plantations or townships within 
the said government that are or shall be orderly erected or 
estabhshed, but shall contrariwise hinder, oppose, and discover 



11 

the same, and such intents and purposes as tend thereunto, to 
the Governor for the time being, or some one of the assistants 
with all convenient speed. You shall also submit unto and 
obey all such good and wholesome laws, ordinances, and offices 
as are or shall he estabhshed within the limits thereof. So help 
you God. [1636.] 

The disturbed state of England is also reflected in 
the 1658 revision of the Laws when "our sovereign 
lord the King, his heirs and successors" is substituted 
for "the present State and Government of England," 
as follows: 

The Oath of a Ffreeman 

You shalbee truely Loyall to the present State and Goument 
of England [our Sou'' Lord the King his heires and Successors.] 
You shall not speake or doe deuise or aduise Any thinge or 
thinges Acte or Actes directly or Indirectly by Land or Water 
that doth shall or may tend to the destruction or ouerthrow of 
these present plantations or Townshipes of the Corporation of 
New Plymouth neither shall you suffer the same to bee spoken 
or done but shall hinder oppose and discouer the same to the 
Gou'' And Assistants of the said Collonie for the time being; 
or some one of them; you shall faithfully submitt vnto such 
good and wholesome Lawes and ordinances as either are or 
shalbee made for the ordering and Gou''ment of the same; and 
shall Indeuor to aduance the grouth and good of the seuerall 
townshipes and plantations within the Lymetts of this Corpora- 
tion by all due meanes and courses; All which you pmise and 
Sweare by the Name of the great God of heauen and earth 
simply truely and faithfully to pforme as you hope for healp 
from God who is the God of truth and the punisher of falchood. 
[1658.] 

At the time of the 1671 revision of the Laws, Charles 
the Second had been firmly seated on the English 
throne for ten years, but his name is omitted from the 
superscription of the following Oath. The intensity of 
the feeling in the New England Colonies towards even 
the name of the two kings is shown in the fact that 
until after the middle of the next century Harvard 
College had only three graduates, if the three Charles 
Chaunceys, with whom it was a family name in Eng- 
land, are omitted, and Yale College only one graduate 
who bore the Christian name of Charles. 



12 

The Oath of a Ffreeman 

You shalbee truely Loyall to our Sou' Lord the Kinge his 
heires and Successors; you shall not doe nor speake deuise or 
aduise any thinge or thinges act or actes directly or Inderectly 
by Land or water; that shall or may tend to the destruction or 
ouerthrow of any of these plantations or towneshipes of the 
Corporation of New Plymouth ; neither shall you suffer the same 
to bee spoken or done but shall hinder oppose and discouer the 
same to the Gou"" and Assistants of the said Collonie for the 
time being or some one of them; you shall faithfully submitt 
vnto such good and wholesome lawes and ordinances; as either 
are or shalbee made for the ordering and Gou'ment of the same; 
and shall endeauor to advance the good and grouth of the 
seuerall Towneshipes and plantations within the Lymetts of 
this Corporation by all due meanes and courses ; all which you 
p'^mise and sweare by the Name of the great God of heauen 
and earth simply truely and faithfully to pforme as you hope 
for healpe from God whoe is the God of truth and the punisher 
of ffalchood. [167L] 

In Massachusetts-Bay Colony. 

When on the 4th of March 1628/9, Charles, ''by the 
grace of God, Kinge of England, Scotland, Fraunce, 
and Ireland, Defender of the Fayth, &c. in the fourth 
yeare of our raigne" did by letters patent grant unto 
Sir Henry Rosewell and his twenty-j5ve associates, 
their heirs and assigns forever, all that certain part of 
the grant of New England which his "deare and royall 
father, Kinge James of blessed memory . . . hath 
given and graunted vnto the Counsell established at 
Plymouth in the County of Devon" and which the 
said Council by deed dated the 19th of March, 1627/8, 
had "given, graunted, bargained, soulde, enfeoffed, 
aliened and confirmed" to Sir Henry Rosewell, Sir 
John Young, Knightes, Thomas Southcott, John 
Humphrey, John Endecott and Symon Whetcombe, 
their heirs and associates forever. To be houlden of vs 
our heires and successors, as of our manor of East- 
greenewich, in the County of Kent, within our realme 
of England," under the name of the ''Governor and 
Company of the Mattachusetts Bay in Newe England, 



13 



one bodie politique and corporate in deede, fact, and 
name, . . . and that by that name they shall have 
perpetuall succession," — may acquire lands, &c. have 
a common seal; and that there shall be one Governor, 
one Deputy Governor, and eighteen assistants to be 
chosen out of the freemen. He went farther, and 
constituted "our welbeloved Mathewe Cradocke to be 
the first and present Governor; Thomas Goffe to be 
Deputy Governor, and eighteen of the other associates 
to be Assistants, who before they undertake the 
execution of their offices and places shall respectively 
take their corporal oaths for the faithful performance 
of their duties. The Oath for Matthew Craddock, as 
Governor, to be administered by a Master of the 
Chancery, the Governor was then empowered to 
administer the oaths to the Deputy Governor and 
Assistants nominated in the Charter. Oaths to subse- 
quent officers being arranged: the new Governor to 
take the Oath before the old Deputy Governor, or 
two Assistants; and the new Deputy Governor, 
Assistants and all other officers hereafter chosen to 
take the oath before the Governor for the time being. 
They were empowered to transport any of our loving 
subjects, or any strangers willing to become our loving 
subjects, and any seven at least of their number had 
"full power and authoritie to choose, nominate, and 
^appointe such and soe many others as they shall thinke 
fitt, and that shall be willing to accept the same, to be 
free of the said Company and Body, and Them into 
the same to admitt. " All subjects inhabiting the 
lands granted, and their children "which shall happen 
to be borne there, or on the seas in goeing thither, or 
retorning from thence shall have and enjoy all liberties 
and immunities of free and natural subjects, ... as 
yf they and everie of them were borne within the realme 
of England. " And the Governor and Deputy Gover- 
nor, and any two or more of the Assistants, at any of 
their Courts or Assemblys shall and may at all times 
have full power to give the Oath of Office and Oaths of 



14 

Supremacy and Allegiance, or either of them, to every 
person who may go to New England to inhabit in the 
same. They were also authorized to make ''the 
formes of such Oathes warrantable by the lawes and 
statutes of this our realme of England as shalbe res- 
pectivelie ministered vnto them, for the execucon of 
the said severall offices and places . . . and ministr- 
ing the said oathes to the newe elected officers. " 

At the end of the Charter appeared the Oath of 
Governor: 

PRtEDICT, Matthaeus Cradocke Juratus est de Fide et 
Obedientia Regi et Successoribus suis, et de Debita Exequutione 
Officij Gubernatoris iuxta Tenorem P"" sentium, 18° Martij, 
1628. Coram me, Carola Csesare, Milite, in Cancellaria Mfo. 

Char. Csesar. 

By this Charter, under the privy seal of Cardinal 
Wolseley, was, unwittingly, planted the seed of the 
fairest flower that ever bloomed in the garden of 
colonization since Eden. 

Up to August, 1630, the business of the Massa- 
chusetts-Bay Company was transacted in London. 
But the business of the Massachusetts-Bay Colony 
may be said to have really begun in May, 1631. 

At "A Gen-'all Court holden att Boston, the 18th 
day of May, 1631. John Winthrop, Esq was chosen 
Goun' for a whole yeare nexte ensueinge by the 
gen'"all consent of the Court, according to the meaneing 
of the pattent, and did accordingly take an oathe to 
the place of Goun"" belonginge. " 

"Tho: Dudley, Esq, is also chosen Deputy 
Goun"" for this yeare nexte ensuing, & did in p^'sence of 
the Court take an oath to his place belonginge." 
And "to the end the body of the comons may be 
p^'serued of honest & good men, it was likewise ordered 
and agreed that for time to come noe man shalbe 
admitted to the freedome of this body polliticke, but 
such as are members of some of the churches within 
the lymitts of the same. " 



15 

The Law that all freemen must be church members, 
while assented to in Salem in 1631, was modified in 
1632, probably for local reasons, that no civil magis- 
trate could be an elder in the church. 

To give force to this law an Oath of Freemen was 
required, and this service the newly appointed 
Governor and the Deputy Governor elected to per- 
form. The result of their labors, the original draft 
of the Oath of a Freeman, in the handwriting of the 
first and greatest of the Governors of the Common- 
wealth of Massachusetts, and the Oath of a Servant, 
in the handwriting of the second Governor — a docu- 
ment perhaps only surpassed in historical interest and 
importance by, and worthy to rank with, the Declara- 
tion of Independence — is now, appropriately, in the 
possession of the Public Library of the City of Boston, 
and its preservation assured. 

Through the courtesy of the Trustees, this Society is 
permitted again to give publicity to the excellent fac- 
similes of these interesting documents, together with 
transcriptions of the somewhat obscure handwriting, 
with interlineations and cancelled words showing, line 
for line, the changes made by the authors, which first 
appeared in the Bulletin of the Library for July, 1894. 

The Oath of a Freeman, or of a Man to be made ffree. 

I, A. B. &c. being, by the Almighties most wise disposicon, be- 
come a memb"^ of this body, consisting of the Goun', Deputy 
Goun'', Assistants, & a com"lty of the Mattachusets in Newe 
England, doe, freely & sincerely acknowledge that I am iustly & 
lawfully subject to the gotim* of the same, & doe accordingly sub- 
mitt my pson & estate to be ptected, ordered, & gouned by the 
lawes & constitucons thereof, & doe faithfully pmise to be from 
time to time obedient & conformeable therevnto, & to the 
authie of the said Goun'' & Assistants & their success''s, & to all 
such lawes, orders, sentences, & decrees as shalbe lawfully made 
& published by them or their successors; and I will alwaies in- 
deav' (as in dutie I am bound) to advance the peace & well- 
faire of this bodie or coiiionwealth to my vtmost skill & abiHtie; 
& I will, to my best power & meanes, seeke to devert & prevent 
whatsoeuer may tend to the ruyne or damage thereof, or of any 
the said Gotin', Deputy Goun'', or Assistants, or any of them, or 



16 

^c-simile of the Freemen's Oath 



The oath of a serv*. 

1. N. N. serv' of &c. haveinge heard and vnderstoode that our — 

soveraigne Lord Kinge Charles hath by his Ires patents vnder the 

great seale of England graunted power and aucthoryty vnto 

a Governo'' a Deputy Governor &. i8. Assistants to rule governe 

& Judge all psones wch doe or shall inhabyte in or betweene 

the Charles ryver &. 3. myles southward & merimack ryver 

&. 3. myles northwards in new England & soe westwards to 

the south sea, beinge wthin wch zcrr.-pa lymitts I doe nowe — 

inhabyt 

Doe promise to be at all tymes hereafter Dureinge my abode 

to. be 
in America obedyent to all lawes orders constitutions & 

A 

comaunds wch by the £ b said Governo' Deputy Governo'" and 

for the tyme being lawfully 

assistants or the greater pte of them shall be made or given — 

A A 

forth & shall come to my 1: heareinge, And to be true and faith 

full to them & their governemt, And I likewise promise that if I 

heare of or heare of or suspect 
shall know of any hurt or losse intended against any of them I will 

A 

reveale the same to one or more of them wth all convenyent — 
speede, And to bind my selfe to the faithfull pformance of this 
promise, 1 sweare by the name of the onely true God the lover of 
truth & the avenger of falshood 



17 



Fac-simJie of the Freemen's Oath 



free or 
The oath of a man to be made free. 

A 
' fc. 

said. N. N- cf being now by the said Governo'' & assistants to be made a free 

thiereby enabled 
man of the said plantacon & to have a voice in the choise of 

A 

the said. 20. Deputed psones soe aucthorised as aforesaid as the 
sai any of their places are or shalbe voide and ! shalbe therevnt? 

w— . -.- ^ .«,,.«.. „ --J > J I '- ^«*^.«. 

I doe promise that when ! s at all tymes when I shalbe there 
vnto lawfully called by the said Governem<, to give my voice 
for the electing of such psone therevntc & psones vnto such voide 
places as I the shall und thinke to be the wisest gcdliest 
*: ablest for the discharg men of wisedome & courage — 
feareinge God & hateing covetousnes all ptyalyty 5: by sett 
aside, and to bind &c vt supra. 



18 
Fac-simile of the Freemen's Oath 

The Oath of ffreemen : 

I A : B : &c : beinge beinge by the Allmightyes most wise despositio becomt 

Deputye 
a member of this bodye consisting of the Governor Assistants & Comonalty 

A 

of the Mattachusetts in n : e : doe freely & sincerely acknowledge that I 



am iustlye & lawfully subiect to the Goverment there of the same & doe 

A 

accordingly submitt my pson & estate to be protected ordered & governed 

by the Lawes & Constitutns therof : & doe faithfully promise to be 

from tyme to tyme obedient, & conformable therevnto, & to the Authe of the, 

sd Governor & Assistants & their successors, & to all such Lawes orders 

lawfully 
sentences & decrees as shalbe made & published by them or their successors 

A 

And I will allwayes endeavC (as in dutye I am bounde) to advance the 

skill & ability, 
peace & wellfare of this bodye or Com : w : to my vttmost power £: 

A 

And I will to my vtrr.cct power best ability power & meanes seeke to de- 

verte & prevent whatsoever may tende to the ruyne or damage thereof 

or 
or of any the sd Governor Deputy Governor ^ Assistants or any of them 

A 

or their successors : & will give spedye notice to them or some of them of 
any evil! seditio, violence, treacherye or other hurt or evill, wch I shall 
knowe, heare, or vehemently suspecte to be intended cr plotted or intended 
ag* them sd or ag* the said Goverment Com : w : or the sd Goverm 
established : 

And I will not at any tyme suffer or give Consent to any Counsel! 
or Attempt that shalbe offered or given or Attempted for the impeachment 
of the sd Goverment or makinge any change or Alteratio of the same, contrary 
to the Lawes & Cuoton^ec ordinances of the !:nn^.e thereof, but shall doe my 
vtmost endeavo"" to discover & oppose & hler all & everye such Counsells 



19 

their success"'s, and will giue speedy notice to them, or some of 
them, of any sedicon, violence, treachery, or other hurt or euill 
which I shall knowe, heare, or vehem*ly suspecte to be plotted 
or intended against the said comonwealth, or the said goum* 
estabhshed ; and I will not att any time suffer or giue consent to 
any counsell or attempt that shalbe offered giuen, or attempted 
for the impeachm* of the said goum*, or makeing any change or 
alteracon of the same, contrary to the lawes & ordinances there- 
of, but shall doe my vtmost endeav' to discover, oppose, & 
hinder, all & euy such counsell & attempts. Soe helpe me 
God. [1631.] 

Att a Gen''all Court, holden att Newe Towne [Cambridge]. 
March 4th, 1634. 

It is further ordered that euy man of or above the age of six- 
teeneyeares, whoe hath bene, or shall hereafter be, resident 
within this iurisdiccon by the space of sixe monethes, (as well 
servants as others,) & not infranchized, shall take the oath of 
residents before the Goun"", Deputy Goun', or two of the nexte 
Assistants, whoe shall haue power to convent him for that pur- 
pose, & vpon bis refuseall, to binde him ouer to the nexte 
Court of Assistants, & vpon his refuseall the second tyme, to 
be punished att the discrecon of the Court. 

It is ordered that the ffreemens oath shalbe gyven to euy man 
of or above the age of 16 yeares, the clause for the eleccon of 
magistrates onely excepted. 

At A Court holden att Boston, Aprill 1th, 1634. 

It was further ordered, that euy man of or above the age 
of twenty yeares, whoe hath bene or shall hereafter be resident 
within this jurisdiccon by the space of sixe monethes, as an 
householder or soiorner, and not infranchised, shall take the 
oath herevnder written, before the Goun"", or Deputy Goun"', or 
some two of the nexte Assistants, whoe shall haue power to 
convent him for that purpose, and vpon his refuseall, to binde 
him ouer to the nexte Court of Assistants; and vpon his refuseall 
the second tyme, hee shalbe banished, except the Court shall see 
cause to giue him further respite. 

The Oath of Residents 

I doe heare sweare, and call God to witnes, that, being nowe 
an inhabitant within the lymitts of this juridiccon of the Massa- 
chusetts, I doe acknowledge myseKe lawfully subject to the auc- 
thoritie and gouerm* there estabhshed, and doe accordingly 
submitt my pson, family, and estate, to be ptected, ordered, & 
gouerned by the lawes & constitucons thereof, and doe faith- 
fully pmise to be from time to time obedient and conformeable 



20 

therevnto, and to the aucthoritie of the Goun% and all other the 
Magistrates there, and their success's, and to all such lawes, 
orders, sentences, & decrees, as nowe are or hereafter shalbe law- 
fully made, decreed, & published by them or their success's. 
And I will alwayes indeav' (as in duty I am bound) to advance 
the peace & wellfaire of this body pollitique, and I will (to my 
best power & raeanes) seeke to devert & prevent whatsoeuer may 
tende to the ruine or damage thereof, or of y" Goun', Deputy 
Goun"", or Assistants, or any of them or their success", and will 
giue speedy notice to them, or some of them, of any sedicon, 
violence, treacherie, or oth"" hurte or euill w'** I shall knowe, 
heare, or vehemently suspect to be plotted or intended against 
them or any of them, or against the said Comon-wealth or 
goum^ estabUshed. Soe helpe mee God. [1634.] 

Att a Gen'all Courte, holden att Boston, May 14th, 1634. 

It was agreed & ordered, that the former oath of f freemen 
shalbe revoked, soe farr as it is dissonant from the oath of ffree- 
men herevnder written, & that those that receaved the former 
oath shall stand bound noe further thereby, to any intent or pur- 
pose, then this newe oath tyes those that nowe takes y^ same. 

The Oath of a Freeman 

I, A. B., being, by Gods providence, an inhabitant & ffreeman 
within the jurisdiccon of this comonweale, doe freely acknowl- 
edge my selfe to be subiect to the goverm* thereof, & therefore 
doe heere sweare, by the greate & dreadfull name of the euer- 
lyveing God, that I wilbe true & faithful! to the same, & will 
accordingly yeilde assistance & support therevnto, with my 
pson & estate, as in equity I am bound, & will also truely 
indeav' to mainetaine & preserue all the libertyes & previHdges 
thereof, submitting my selfe to the wholesome lawes & orders 
made & estabhshed by the same; and furth', that I will not 
plott nor practise any evill against it, nor consent to any that 
shall soe doe, but will timely discover & reveale the same to 
lawfuU aucthority nowe here established, for the speedy pre- 
venting thereof. Moreouer, I doe solemnely binde myselfe, 
in the sight of God, that when I shalbe called to giue my voice 
touching any such matter of this state, wherein ffreemen are 
to deale I will giue my vote & suffrage, as I shall iudge in myne 
owne conscience may best conduce & tend to the publique 
weale of the body, without respect of psons, or fav' of any man. 
Soe helpe mee God in the Lord Jesus Christ. [1634.] 

Further, it is agreed that none but the Gen all Court hath 
power to chuse and admitt freemen. 



f^C^f; a*- iAu^ 





















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i . l ^ . .^.^i-Cviif /c, ,gf../V«».V^- Irs? i^--^' "'V *" 



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Facsimile of Original Manuscript Record 

In the Handwriting of Secretary Simon Bradstreet 
last Colonial Governor of Massaehusetts Bay 



21 

The text of the Oath given above is that given in the 
body of the Colony Records, in the handwriting of 
Simon Bradstreet, the Secretary, and differs only in 
the spelling of words from that of the transcriber (who 
may have been Secretary Bradstreet himself) of the 
copy in the Miscellaneous Records, which were trans- 
ferred by the Compiler from their regular order to the 
end of the first volume of the Records at page 354. 

The Oath of a Free-man 

I (A. B.) being by Gods providence an Inhabitant, and 
Freeman, within the Jurisdiction of this Commonwealth; do 
freely acknowledge my self to be subject to the Government 
thereof ; And therefore do here swear by the great and dreadful 
Name of the Ever-living God, that / will be true and faithfuU 
to the same, and will accordingly yield assistance & support 
thereunto, with my person and estate, as in equity / am bound; 
and will also truly endeavour to maintain and preserve all the 
liberties and priviledges thereof, submitting my self to the 
wholesome Lawes & Orders made and established by the same. 
And further that / will not plot or practice any evill against 
it, or consent to any that shall so do ; but will timely discover 
and reveal the same to lawfuU Authority now here established, 
for the speedy preventing thereof. Moreover, / doe solemnly 
bind my self in the sight of God, that when I shal be called to 
give my voyce touching any such matter of this State, in which 
Freemen are to deal, / will give my vote and suffrage as / shall 
judge in mine own conscience may best conduce and tend to the 
publike weal of the body, without respect of persons, or 
favour of any man. So help me God in the Lord Jesus Christ. 
[1634.] From the copy given in John Childe's " New-Englands 
Jonas cast up at London." (London, 1647), which the preface 
states was printed in Massachusetts-Bay, by itself. 

To this form of The Oath of a Free man attaches the 
great additional interest of being the first work printed 
in the United States of America. 

Under date of Mo. 1. (March, 1638/9) John Win- 
throp's Journal states: ''A printing house was begun 
at Cambridge by one Daye, at the charge of Mr. 
Glover, who died on sea hitherward. The first thing 
which was printed was the freemen's oath; the next 
was an almanac made for New England by Mr. 



22 

William Peirce, mariner; the next was the Psalms 
newly turned into metre." 

For nearly three hundred years no copy of this 
printed paper has been known to be extant. The 
ceaseless search for a copy in this country by antiquari- 
ans, bibliographers and historians would long ago 
have been successful, if even a single copy had been 
preserved in either the institutions of the State, or 
Nation, or in individual or family possession. 

It would be difficult to exaggerate the patriotic 
feeling of our people, if it were known that a copy of 
this interesting and valuable state paper, the first fruit 
of the printing-press in this country, whose ringing 
sentences of freedom preceded by nearly a century 
and a half the Declaration of Independence, had been 
discovered at this late day. 

Fully a quarter of a century ago, while engaged in 
making a search for early printed American publica- 
tions in the Catalogue of printed books in the British 
Museum — a great and monumental work, worthy in 
its scholarly completeness of the Government which 
fostered its publication, and of inestimable importance 
and benefit to scholars in every land — the following 
entry under the heading "Freeman" seemed to me to 
warrant more than passing observation and curiosity 
which the intervening years have failed to satisfy: 

— The Oath of a Freeman. B. L. 
[London, 1645?] s. sh. 12°. 11,626. aa. (1, 2.) 

An analysis of this entry seems to show points of 
resemblance following closely the known facts re- 
garding the first work printed in this country. 

The title is the one given by John Childe presumably 
from the earliest printed copy in his possession. The 
abbreviated title, freemen's oath, as given by John 
Winthrop, first appearing in the Code of 1648, which 
seems to justify the belief that Winthrop wrote his 
Journal some years after the press was established. 



23 

The letters B. L. indicate that the printed text is in 
black-letter. While there is no evidence of the num- 
ber and kinds of fonts of type purchased for the first 
press by Joseph Glover, there is an itemized statement 
of the number and names of the fonts of type for the 
second press sent over later by the Society for Prop- 
agating the Gospel among the Indians in New Eng- 
land, for printing the Bible in the Indian language, and 
among them is a small font of ''blacks," i.e. black- 
letter, which would indicate that a small font of that 
letter was generally considered a part of the equipment 
of a printing-office of the period. Even if this was not 
so, on the good authority of Isaiah Thomas, the type 
used in printing the Bay Psalm Book, of 1640, was 
"small bodied English," a type commonly used for 
works in quarto and folio, which approximates in size 
to black-letter, -but without the ceriphs, or fine pro- 
jecting points of that letter. It is not unreasonable to 
suppose that a cataloguer might, hastily, consider the 
thickly inked, heavy press-work we find in the Bay 
Psalm Book, under the same conditions in a somewhat 
crudely printed sheet, to be black-letter printing. 

The brackets enclosing the imprint indicate that the 
place and date given do not appear on the printed 
sheet, but are the personal judgment of the cataloguer 
regarding them. Having already determined the 
printing to be in black-letter English, it naturally 
follows in his judgment that the place of printing is 
London. His guess of the year, 1645, which he 
queries, is a close one; but is open to the criticism that 
an Oath of a Freeman could never have been printed 
or exacted in England during the reign of Charles the 
First. Ten years later, under Cromwellian rule, it 
might have been done. But the only place on earth 
it could have been printed and exacted without 
imprisonment, in 1645, was in the freemen's Colony of 
Massachusetts-Bay. 

In this connection it may be well to observe, as a 
further illustration that Governor Winthrop wrote his 



24 

Journal years later than the events he records, that 
his date of 1638/9, should be one year later, for the date 
of the half-sheet almanac by William Peirce, mariner. 
Following Winthrop, if the almanac was calculated for 
the year beginning in March, 1639, it would suppose 
its printing sometime before the 25th of March, or in 
the Julian year 1638. This would leave nearly a 
whole year during which no other printing was done. 
If the almanac was calculated for the year beginning in 
March, 1640 — the year the Bay Psalm Book is 
dated — then it would suppose the Oath, and the 
Almanac, printed in the eleventh or twelfth months of 
the Julian year 1639, which is more probable. Isaiah 
Thomas, writing in 1810, leaves this question in doubt 
by not stating whether his January, 1639, refers to the 
Julian, or the Gregorian Calendar. 

To continue our analysis: The format, and size, 
agrees with the known facts that the Oath was printed 
"on the face of a half sheet of small paper." The 
shelf-mark indicates the permanent place on the 
shelves of the Library. 

The singular appearance of the only known copy of 
this important and interesting document in the Colo- 
nial history of New England, nearly three hundred 
years after its printing, so far from its place of publica- 
tion, calls for explanation, which is apparently fur- 
nished in a work published in London, in April, 1647, 
entitled: ''New-Englands Jonas cast up at London." 
On the title-page it purports to be written by Major 
John Childe, a brother of Doctor Robert Childe, of 
Hingham, who was detained by order of the General 
Court of Massachusetts-Bay ; but according to William 
Hubbard, in his History, and affirmed by John Win- 
throp, in his Journal, the real author of everything, 
except the Preface, was William Vassall. 

Its odd title was suggested by a remark made by 
the Reverend John Cotton, in a Thursday-Lecture, 
preached November 5, 1646, just previous to the 
departure of the vessel which was carrying back to 







t s ^ 



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25 

England some of the dissatisfied signers of a Petition 
to the General Court, who rumor gave were taking 
with them this and other incriminating documents 
against the Government of the Colony. The learned 
preacher took for his text, Canticles, II: 15. "Take 
us the foxes, the little foxes, which destroy the vines," 
and made pointed allusions to the current runiors, and 
the punishment which their acts would receive in a 
stormy voyage, and how it could be averted. But 
later we shall let Vassall tell the story in his own 
words. The effect upon his hearers was so great that 
some who had engaged passage withdrew rather than 
risk the dangers of a stormy voyage in the winter 
season. 

After a brief summary of the reasons for publication 
the Preface states that the Relation is made up of the 
following particulars : 

First, the Petition of the greater part of the Inhabitants of 
Hingham, and the proceedings therein. 

Secondly, a Petition of Doctor Child and others dehvered 
to the General Court at Boston with some passages thereon. 

Thirdly, the Capital Laws of the Massachusetts Bay, with 
the Freemans Oath, as they are printed there by themselves. 

The italics are mine. Here, then, we have direct 
proof confirming the statement of John Winthrop that 
the Freeman's Oath was printed at Cambridge in 1639, 
and, in the body of the work, is given the full text of 
The Oath of a Free man as printed. It is probable 
that only the number of copies necessary for officials 
authorized to administer the Oath were printed, and 
the copy taken to England was surreptitiously ob- 
tained from some member of the Government. Its 
importance lay in the fact that it afforded printed 
evidence that nowhere in it is any reference made to 
the King's Majesty, or of allegiance to any power on 
earth save that of their own Government as con- 
stituted. 

The Capital Laws were printed at Cambridge in 
1642, probably under the same restriction, as to num- 



^+ «1^m41 ^ 










-HfluH 



Ut^- 



1 



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^ 









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26 

ber; and, as printed evidence, open to the same 
construction as the Oath. Whatever the purpose, 
however, it had been forestalled some four years 
earlier when the Capital Laws were reprinted in Lon- 
don in a folio broadside. The copy in the British 
Museum bears the Colophon: "Printed first in New- 
England, and re-printed in London for Ben. Allen in 
Popes-Head Allen [sic] 1643." 

Fourthly, a relation of that story of Jonas verbatim as it 
was delivered to me in writing by a Gentleman that was then 
a passenger in the ship. 

"When the first ship that came this year 1646 from New- 
England, was almost ready to come from thence; Mr. 
Cotton in his Thursday-Lecture at Boston, preached out of 
that Scripture, Cant. 2, 15. Take us the little Foxes, &c. 
In his uses took occasion to say. That if any shall carry any 
Writings, Complaints against the people of God in that 
Country it would be a Jonas in the ship. * * He also 
advised the Ship-Master, that if storms did arise, to search if 
they had not in any Chest or Trunk any such Jonas aboard, 
which if you find (said he) I do not advise you to throw the 
persons over-board, but the Writings; or words to that effect. 
Whereupon, having great storms (as could not be otherwise 
expected) some of the Passengers remembering Mr. Cotton's 
Sermon, it seems were much affected with what he had said; 
and a woman amongst them came up from between the decks 
about Midnight, or after, in a distracted passionate manner to 
Mr. William Vassall who lay in the great Cabin, but for the 
present was in the Sterage-door-way looking abroad: she 
earnestly desired him, if there were any Jonas in the ship, that 
as Mr. Cotton had directed it might be thrown over-board, 
with many broken expressions to that purpose. He asked 
her why she came to him? and she said because it was thought 
that he had some Writings against the people of God: but 
he answered her. He had nothing but a Petition to the 
Parliament that they might enjoy the liberty of English sub- 
jects, and that could be no Jonas; and that if the best of New- 
Englands friends could shew him any evil in that, he would not 
prefer it. After this she went into the great Cabin to Mr. 
Tho. Fowle in like distracted manner; who told her he had 
nothing but the Copy of Petition which himself and others had 
presented to the Court at Boston; and showed, and read it to 
her, and then told her. That if she and others thought that to 
be the cause of the storm, she and they might do what they 



27 

would with it; but he professed that he saw no evil in it, neither 
was his Conscience troubled with it. So she took it and 
carried it between Decks to them from whom she came, and 
they agreed to throw it over-board and it was thrown over- 
board : but the storm did not leave us upon the throwing of the 
Paper over-board as it is reported; for they had many great 
storms after that; much lesse was the great and wonderfull 
deliverance which by Gods mercy he gave unto them from 
shipwrack and drowning at the Isles of Silly, upon the throw- 
ing of that Writing over-board ; for that was thrown over long 
before, at least 14 dayes. Also the error is the more in this, 
That the report is that it was the petition to the Parhament 
that was thrown over-board; and it was only a Copy of a 
Petition to their own Court at Boston, and the Petition to 
the Parliament was still in the ship, together with another 
copy of that which was thrown over-board, and other writings 
of that nature, some of which are printed in this book, and 
were as well saved as their lives and other goods, and are here 
in London to be seen and made use of in convenient time." 

It is true that at any time in the intervening years of 
a quarter of a century I could have written to the 
British Museum authorities and been sure of a 
courteous reply; but the matter seemed too important 
to be settled in so prosaic a way. This, and the hope 
that sometime I might be able to determine the matter 
personally, and achieve the honor that would attach 
to its discovery, deterred me. 

I suppose that men of all professions, in their call- 
ings, feel an unwonted glow in the achievement of 
some object; but I know of no greater joy than that 
which fills the lover of books when his long search for a 
rare book is rewarded. Then it is that you seem to 
enter into the holy of holies of delight, when the whole 
body thrills with suppressed emotions, the eyes 
moisten, and the trembling hand stretched out to take 
the volume does so with a touch which is almost a 
caress. The feeling, I think, must be somewhat akin 
to the ''buck fever" of the deer hunter, whose mind 
and shaking limbs refuse to function, as he looks into 
the luminous eyes, and notes the startled look, and 
graceful beauty of his prey, until it has bounded into 
safety in the forest. Why, I reasoned with myself, 



28 

should I give to another the pleasure of these emotions 
which were mine by right of discovery. 

The opportunity of voyaging to England, which I 
had so long looked forward to, did not come to me 
until the Spring of the present year, and the pleasant 
anticipations with which I set out were comparable 
in my own mind with those which must have animated 
the Knights of Arthur's Round Table in their quest 
for the holy grail. The morning after my arrival in 
London found me an early visitor at the British 
Museum. The preliminaries of admittance to the 
Reading-Room are not difficult, and are soon over with, 
and I found myself within the great rotunda, its walls 
lined in tiers with what is best in the literatures of the 
world, and from which has gone out so much that is 
worth while in English literature. From the Cata- 
logue I filled out slips for some half dozen works, 
artfully to conceal the one uppermost in my mind, 
handed them in at the desk, and returned to my 
chosen seat to await with such calmness as I could 
command the culmination of years of desire. Heeding 
the legend that when the grail was approached by any 
one not perfectly pure it vanished from sight; and that 
to be qualified to discover it one must be perfectly 
chaste in thought and act, I endeavored to prepare 
myself for its appearance. Somewhere I have read of 
an Oriental visionary who attained a high degree of 
saintly perfection by fixing his gaze steadfastly for 
hours upon his navel, which a growing embonpoint 
made an easy thing to do, and I sought for holiness in 
the same way. 

In time the white slips of my wants came flutter- 
ing back to me by messengers, all marked, very prop- 
erly for security on account of rarity, that they 
could only be consulted in the North Library, 
until all were in but the one most desired. Then 
followed a much longer wait and then — the slip was 
handed back to me with a notation that I had given a 
wrong shelf-mark! Gone in an instant were all the 



29 

perfectly pure and chaste thoughts with which I had 
been regaling myself while I was apparently looking 
at the wrong button on my vest. I think I could have 
stood the blow better if it had been that hoary old 
fiction of careless assistants that it was "out", but this 
is a boon denied to any assistant in the British 
Museum, where nothing is allowed to go out. A com- 
parison with the printed Catalogue showed an exact 
correspondence, and I sought the Superintendent of 
the Reading-Room, who assured me that the matter 
would have his personal attention ; and for the rest of 
the day I busied myself with my other wants in the 
North Library without any word of the missing 
broadside reaching me. That evening, in communion 
with myself, I determined to throw off the mask of 
secrecy and frankly confide the importance of my 
quest to the Keeper of the Printed Books — the some- 
what expressive and imposing title of the Librarian 
of the British Musuem. 

Before calling upon him I sought as an introducer 
Henry N. Stevens — the worthy son of an illustri- 
ous father who follows closely in his footsteps as the 
best authority on early printed American books in 
Europe — at his shop across the street from the 
imposing Museum building, and to him I told my 
story. As I proceeded his interest grew, and before I 
had finished he excitedly grasped my arm with one 
hand and his hat with the other, exclaiming: ''Come 
with me. This is not a subject for underlings," and 
rushed me across the street without pause until we 
were in the sanctum sanctorum of the learned and 
accomplished Keeper, Alfred W. Pollard. And to 
him I told my simple tale, and asked his assistance. 
Mr. Pollard is himself a bibliographer of note in his 
special field, and my story was not without interest to 
him, but he refused to share my belief that the missing 
broadside was what I supposed it to be, laying much 
stress upon the black-letter feature as proof of its 
English origin. The unsuccessful search for the 



30 

missing broadside had evidently been called to his 
notice, and the failure to produce anything in the 
millions of books catalogued in that vast collection, 
he considered a challenge to the efficiency of himself 
and his staff of assistants. A few days later, he 
acknowledged failure; but gave me the interesting 
information that in tracing the broadside back to its 
accession he had found that it was acquired by the 
Museum in the year 1865, and formed part of a 
bundle of miscellaneous matter, being considered of so 
little importance as not even to have been mentioned 
in the contents of the bundle. Printing of the letter F 
of the Catalogue was completed in 1888, and since 
that time an expansion of the classification of books 
upon the shelves had been made, from which dated 
its disappearance. He would not, however, discon- 
tinue his efforts to find it. After apologizing for giving 
him a "bad half-hour," which only the importance of 
the broadside excused, our second interview ended. 
On my last day in London, I went again with Mi. 
Stevens to call on Mr. Pollard about the matter, 
and told him that I had made my arrangements 
to fly from London to Paris on the morrow, and 
asked him if these old eyes of mine were never to be- 
hold the holy grail. '*In black-letter?" he queried, 
touching the weak spot in my armor. "In duo- 
decimo!" I countered, pointing to the rent in his own. 
And the third interview ended with his assurance that 
the search would go on until the missing broadside was 
found. 

And there the matter rests, very much in the con- 
dition of the story of the cook who asked the skipper: 
"Is any thing lost when you know where it is?" 
And to the skipper's gruff response, "Of course not," 
he pleasantly replied: "I am glad to know that our 
only iron soup kettle wasn't lost when it fell overboard 
into the Bay." 

Through the courtesy of our fellow-members, Henry 
Edwards Huntington, Esquire, and the accomplished 



31 

bibliographer and librarian of his unrivaled collection 
of books and art, George Watson Cole, the Society is 
permitted to give a reproduction from the only known 
copy of "The Book of General Lawes and Libertyes 
concerning the Inhabitants of the Massachusetts" — 
the long - lost Code of 1648. No copy or fragment of a 
copy was known to be extant for over two hundred 
and fifty years, when, in 1906, this copy was dis- 
covered in a small private library in England, and was 
sold to the late Edmund Dwight Church for the 
highest price ever paid for an American printed book — 
a record which is not likely to be surpassed. The 
almost miraculous recovery of this volume, will, I 
have given my reasons to hope, sometime have a 
counterpart in the recovery of the only known copy of 
the first work printed in the United States of 
America — The Oath of a Free man. From the year 
1641, this bore the abbreviated title of the 

Freemans Oath 

I (A. B.) being by Gods providence an Inhabitant within the 
Jurisdiction of this Common-wealth, and now to be made free; 
doe heer freely acknowledge my self to be subject to the 
Government therof : and therfore do heer swear by the great 
and dreadfuU Name of the Ever-living God, that I wiU be true 
and faithfull to the same, & will accordingly yeild assistance & 
support therunto, with my person and estate, as in equitie I am 
bound, and will also truly indeavour to maintein & preserve 
all the Liberties and Priviledges therof, submitting my self 
unto the wholsom Laws made and established by the same. 
And farther, that I will not plot or practice any evil against 
it, or consent to any that shall so doe; but will timely discover 
& reveal the same to lawful! authoritie now heer estab- 
lished, for the speedy prevention therof. 

Moreover, I do solemnly binde my self in the sight of God, 
that when I shall be called to give my voice touching any such 
matter of this State, wherin Free-men are to deal; I will give 
my vote and suffrage as I shall in mine own conscience judge 
best to conduce and tend to the publick weal of the Body, 
without respect of persons, or favour of any man. So help me 
God in our Lord Jesus Christ. [1641.] From Code of 1648. 



32 

Freemans Oath 

I [A. B.] being by Gods providence an inhabitant within the 
Jurisdiction of this Connmon-wealth, and now to be made free; 
doe here freely acknowledg my self to be subject to theGovern- 
ment thereof: And therefore do here Swear by the great and 
dreadfuU Name of the Ever-living God, that I will be true and 
faithfull to the same, and will accordingly yeild assistance and 
support thereunto, with ray person and estate, as in equity I 
am bound, and will also truely indeavour to maintain and pre- 
serve all the Liberties and Priviledges thereof, submitting 
my self unto the wholsom Laws made and established bj'- the 
same. And farther, that I will not plot or practice an evill 
against it, or consent to any that shall so doe; but will timely 
discover and reveal the same to lawfull Authority now here 
established, for the speedy prevention thereof. 

Moreover, I do solemnly bind my self in the sight of God, 
that when 1 shall be called to give my voice touching any such 
matter of this State, wherein Free-men are to deal ; I will give 
my vote and suffrage as I shall in mine own conscience judg 
best to conduce and tend to the publick weal of the Body, 
without respect of persons, or favour of any man. So help 
me God &c. [1641.] From Code of 1660. 

It is Ordered and by this Court declared, that no man shall 
be urged to take any Oath or subscribe to any Articles, 
Covenants or Remonstrances, of publick and Civil nature, but 
such as the Generall Court hath Considered, allowed and 
required, and no Oath of any Magistrate or of any Officer, shall 
bind him any further or longer, then he is Resident or Reputed 
an I nhabitant of this J urisdiction . [ 1 64 1 . ] 

Every Court in this Jurisdiction, where two Magistrates are 
present, may admitt any church members that are fitt, to be 
Freemen, giving them the Oath, and the Gierke of each Court, 
shall certify their names to the Secretary at the next General 
Court. [1641 [2]]. 

In 1643, the Colonies of Massachusetts-Bay, New 
Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven, concluded a 
Confederacy by which they entered into a solemn 
compact to alTord each other mutual advice and assist- 
ance on all necessary occasions, whether offensive, 
defensive, or prudential. Among the reasons assigned 
for this Union were the dependent condition of the 
colonists; the vicinity of the French and Dutch, who 
were inclined to make encroachments; the warlike 



XX J HSKyiS fijxm ferions sonfiueratioo , )Ke£ have MnsUuUd .1 cmfceckr^cu: \r:fh ■Kz\ 
W . O'g'pi Loiemti ej Attf-l^lK}.0uth, Cor-uttittd: tUicJW-AyJiuVifi-' , -Us th iimd'f' 

WccbavfthisComt choleo our truftieandwdl-lxk-vet!frdnds(.^/ )and(fV/*-)J. 
for this Culoiiit, tor a fiiil and compleat year , as aiiy oficiiions jind (.xiacnts ni.-rv'i c^tiiH* 
aiid paiticuiarly lor the next Mating at (.. ) . And do mviih ihcii; w ,th \-:\\ p.'tvvr ;1rr»i ' 
autbontic to t. cat, arid cgncliide ot all things , according to tl**:. v.u< zcv.oi-x airi \ Jieanin^ 
^igirtcmr ^^ ^i^e Artivlc-s of cuwtuudcration of tijC united Coioii-cs , coHcii-idcd ix. i. •.■,'?£- ri:L« • 
umtiidiiy of tiiC third month J 54.5 . . i- 

I [A L ) being by Ciods providence an Inhabitant withia it? Jurkditftim of th^ ' 
Coninx)u wealth , d*^ c freely and (inccrly aclcnowkdge ri._y iclfe to L>e Li^rdl to •: 
the Govcmnaait thcrof . And doe heer Iwear by t,hc gfejidnd rkoddfiill N.mirc f tlxs • 
■Evcr-Uving God, tiiat I will Ix- true and faithful! co dx; iafrse , «vJ w.-U accorci;!K:ly t'crlij l 
iafCftaiKc theruiito, with my ptrlbn arid dlatc, as m>5u;«e r-anjvl-xxmd : snd ^v4I a*!ei \ 
truly iodeavoiir to niaime.n and preferve atl the Uticrtics & P^ jTrltdge!. rberof , fL-tiniiv- 1 
ting my icU' unto the whoUom Laws tmde, &c ettabhlhcd Uy cik- iainc . And fcirtfcti'!^ ? 



iuu J uuu i!u^ 10 ut uiauc ifuv- J doc txXT t.cclv scRr. -wied- e rwv i 
m to beiib3cti«^4t^J^m-4ni ri^rof : 'aaitbcrfoie M.eer"fxw4ji- b/tk^giff ' 
and dco^fiill Nditieo<^e€vcr-iitiii| G jd , thaii \vdi be trut- and raitHriill to tLcSn^ '' 

eqirit:el am ixjbnd , and will alio truly lodcavour to niainrcin tc jnelcrve ull the L.bcr- 1 
Cits and P; iviltdj^Cb thtiof , iubuuodng ray Jclf ant© the wholiv^uiXaws made .ird cfta- , 
bhfhcd by tl:e ianic . Andf|rtlicf, tba'tIv.'illD05f4or oftpsadieeanycvila'^ai'ift it, 
or eonfeut to any that fkiU io (lot j- .'iwc. will uCmcI^ dilcover -&rctcal the ianx to law- 
full aitbontie now hcer pftabl' Ih^d > : for thx Ipeecy prevantiori dwof . 

Jvloicover, I doif^lunrily: ktttvlc nay felt m the light of God, that u'k-n trball l-*^ \ 
called to givfC my voicfi touching dujj ^uch uvitter of thu. ikaie , .whcnn Free-urn arc m * 
de.il i 1 Will give tr.y yote irnl ; ^ipa^t as I Ihallin mine owe auiltia-ct' j.i'd<'c bcfl: C6 
conduceand tcridtpU^fr' pul^lick we4wf tU;iiody , wi,chou|C rtElpe& of pertons ,'o; t<S 
vourofany man. So hdp n* God &p; 

WHE.RAS you (y il- ) arccbpfeo to the place 6f a Govcniour ever this jurtsda : 
on , for this yoir , . ^84 1^ «tne<v be gliulcn ^ 1 warn : you do ha i J www [ : v 
the LiYing God , thatyou wiUm^ diings, concerning yonr^lace, accordin-vto \ o-j'r 
Ua pQWtu: and skill-tirie and demean your idf f(?r the laid ojik of your Govtf. nn'xr.r, 
•according to the LaNvWgodi^:f|>r.t.k adYancencent rfhifc Codicil , the Law.sofci .;v 
Lnd, and die gtod of the people of this Juri.^didion . You Hiall dcK- iuftictf to all :> o\ 
w tliout paftulitie, as much as in you lycth : you fholl not exceed the limitatioir. ct a 
Gcv^ourinyourpL^cev^So'hclf^yowGvHl&c; " . / . ; 

WfltRAS yoi (7 i^- \ ^c,eQj*ie'n Vi> dje place cf the DcputKc-GQV(iiv)i:-- A c : 



Freeman's Oath 

Reproduced from "The Book of General Lawes and 

Libertyes concerning the Inhabitants of the Massachusetts" — 1648 

By the courtesy ot Henry Edwards Huntington 



f 33 

attitude of the neighboring Indians; the commence- 
ment of civil war in England, and impracticability of 
aid from thence in any emergency; and the sacred ties 
of religion which already bound them. The Province 
of Maine was not included because it was subject to 
rulers of Episcopal tenets, and was infrequently an 
asylum for excommunicants. This Union lasted for 
forty years without any general Oath of Allegiance 
being required from the inhabitants of the several 
Colonies. 

Oath of Fidelitie 

I (A B) being by Gods providence an Inhabitant within the 
Jurisdiction of this Common-wealth, doe freely and sincerely 
acknowledge my selfe to be subject to the Government thereof. 
And doe heer swear by the great and dreadful name of the Ever- 
living God, that I will be true and faithfull to the same, and will 
accordingly yeild assistance therunto, with my person and 
estate, as in equitie I am bound : and will also truly indeavour 
to maintein and preseve all the Liberties & Priviledges ' hereof, 
submitting my self unto the wholsom Laws made, & established 
by the same. And farther, that I will not plot or practice any 
evil against it, or consent to any that shall so doe: but will timely 
discover and reveal the same to lawfuU Authoritie now heer 
established, for the speedy preventing thereof. So help me 
God in our Lord Jesus Christ. [1646.] From Code of 1648. 

Oath of Fidelitie 

I [A. B.] being by Gods providence an inhabitant within the 
Jurisdiction of the Commonwealth, do freely and sincerely 
acknowledge my selfe to be subject to the Government thereof. 
And do here Swear by the great and dreadful name of the ever- 
living God, that I will be true & faithfull to the same, and will 
accordingly yeild assistance thereunto, with my person and 
estate, as in equity I am bound : And will also truely endeavour 
'to Maintain and preserve all the Liberties & Priviledges thereof 
submitting my self unto the wholesom Laws made, and estab- 
lished by the same. 

And farther that I will not plot or practice any Qvill against 
it, or consent to any that shall so do : but will timely discover 
and reveal the same to lawfuU Authority now here established, 
for the speedy preventing thereof. So help me God in our Lord 
Jesus Christ. [1646.] From Code of 1660. 



34 

To the end the body of the freemen may be preserved of honest 
and good men, It is Ordered, That henceforth no man shall be 
admitted to the frecdome of this Common-wealth, but such as 
are members of some of the Churches, within the limits of this 
Jurisdiction; And whereas many members of Churches to exempt 
themselves from Publick Service, will not come in to be made free- 
men, It is Ordered, That no members of Churches within this 
lurisidiction, shall be exempt from any publick service, they 
shall be chosen to, by the Inhabitants of the severall Townes, 
as Constables, lurors. Select men, surveiors of the High-wayes. 
And if any such person shall refuse to serve in, or to take upon 
him any such Office, being legally chosen therunto, he shall 
pay for every such refusall, such fine, as the Town shall impose 
not exceeding Twenty shillings for one Offence. [1647.] 

Any non freemen, who have taken or shall take the Oath of 
fidelity to this government could be jury men and vote in cer- 
tain matters, after he had attained the age of 24 years. [1647.] 

For as much as divers Inhabitants of this Jurisdiction who 
have long continued amongst us, receiving Protection, from this 
Government, have as loe are informed uttered Offencive speeches, 
whereby their fidelity to this Government may justly be suspected, 
and also that divers strangers of forreign parts do repair e to us of 
whose fidelity we have not that Assurance which is Commonly re- 
quired of all Governments. 

It is therefore Ordered by this Court and the Authority 
thereof. That the County Courts or any one Magistrate out 
of Court, shall have power and is hereby Authorized to Require 
the Oath of fidehty of all settled Inhabitants amongst us who 
have not already taken the same, as also to Require the Oath 
under written, of all strangers, who after two months have 
their abode here; And if any Person shall refuse to take the 
Respective Oath, he or they shall be bound over to the next 
County Court or Court of Assistants, where if he shall refuse, 
he shall forfeit five pound a week for every week he shall Con- 
tinue in this Jurisdiction after his sayd Refusall, unles he can 
give sufficient security to the satisfaction of the Court or 
Magistrate for his fidelity, during his or their residence 
amongst us. 

Strangers Oath 

You A. B. Do acknowledge your self subject to the Lawes of 
this Jurisdiction during your Residence under this Government, 
and do here Swear, by the Great Name of the Everliving GOD, 
and engage your self to be true and faithfull to the same, arid not to 
plot, contrive, or conceal any thing that is to the hurt or detriment 
thereof. [1652.]. 



35 

This was, apparently, aimed at the Quakers, whose 
offensive attitude towards the Government was made 
the subject of further drastic laws and orders by the 
General Court, in October, 1656, and May, 1658. 

This Court having considered of the proposals presented to this 
Court by several of the inhabitants of the County of Middlesex; 
Do Declare and Order, That no man whosoever, shall be 
admitted to the Freedome of this Body Politick, but such as 
are members of some Church of Christ and in full Communion, 
which they declare to be the true intent of the ancient Law, 
page the eighth of the second Book, Anno. 1631. [1660.] 

This was construed as being directed against the 
members of the Church of England, and was largely 
responsible for the strained relations with his Majesty's 
Commission in 1665. It was repealed before the 1672 
Revision of the Laws. 

For causes already mentioned the publication of the 
first Code of Laws, in 1648, was unnoticed in England; 
but it was very different with the publication of the 
second Code, in 1660. When it appeared its provi- 
sions were subjected to critical scrutiny by enemies of 
the Puritan Commonwealth, and the worst possible 
constructions placed upon them. In particular, the 
loyalty of the framers, who took an Oath of Fidelity 
to their Government, and none to the King, was 
questioned; and the provisions for the admission of 
freemen which, practically, prohibited members of the 
Church of England. By letter, his Majesty ordered a 
redress of these grievances, and appointed a Commis- 
sion who proceeded, in a partisan manner, to execute 
their powers. In 1665, the Commissioners presented 
to the General Court a list of twenty-six changes which 
they desired to have made in the Code of 1660. 
The principal ones were the substitution of an acknowl- 
edgment of the royal authority for all expressions of 
the supremacy of the Commonwealth ; a recognition of 
the Church of England ; and a repeal of the long-stand- 
ing limitation of citizenship to church members. To 
one or two of their points the General Court gave con- 



36 

sent. A comparison with the Code of 1672, shows that 
while the recognition of his majesty's supremacy was 
allowed, in a score of instances the powers of the gov- 
ernment under their Charter were asserted. The right 
of strangers to become citizens was nominally conced- 
ed, but on conditions which afforded only a minimum 
of relief to members of the Church of England. 

On the 3 August, 1664 it was Ordered by the General Court: 
In Answer to that part of his Majesty es Letter, of June 28, 
1662, concerning admission of freemen. This Court doth 
Declare, That the Law prohibiting all persons, except Members 
of Churches, and, that also for allowance of them in any 
County Court, are hereby Repealed, And do hereby also Order 
and Enact That, from henceforth all English men presenting a 
Certificate under the hand of the Ministers, or Minister of the 
Place where they dwell, that they are Orthodox in Religion, 
and not vicious in their Lives, and also a certificate under the 
hands of the Select men of the place, or of the major Part of 
them, that they are Free-holders: and are for their own propper 
Estate (without heads of Persons) Rateable to the Country in 
a single Country Rate, after the usuall manner of valuation in 
the place where they live, to the full vallue of Ten Shillings, or 
that they are in full Communion with some Church amongst 
us; It shall be in the Liberty of all and every such Person or 
Persons, being twenty-four yeares of age, Householders and 
settled Inhabitants in this Jurisdiction, from time to time to 
themselves and their desires to this Court, for their addmit- 
tance to the freedome of this commonwealth, and shall be 
allowed the priviledge, to have such their desire Propounded 
and put to Vote in the General Court, for acceptance to the 
freedome of the body pollitick, by the sufferage of the major 
parte according to the Rules of our Patent, [1664.]. 

It was also Ordered by the General Court on the 19 October, 
1664. 

Forasmuch as several Persons who from time to time are to be 
made freemen, live remote and are not able without great trouble 
and charge to appear before this Court to take their respective 
Oaths: It is therefore Ordered, that henceforth it shall be in 
the power of any County Court, to administer the Oath of 
Freedome to any persons approved of by the General Court 
who shall desire the same, any Law or Custome to the con- 
trary notwithstanding. [1664.] 

And, at the May, 1665, session, to conform to the criticism 
of his Majesty's Commission concerning the Oath of Allegiance : 



37 

It is ordered by this Court, & the authority thereof, that the 
following oath be annexed vnto the oathes of euery freeman & 
oath of fidellity, & to the Gouerno', Dept~Gouerno% & 
Assistants, & to all other publicke officers, as foUoweth : — 

The oath of a freeman & fidehty to runne thus: — 

Oath of Fidelitie 

Whereas I [A. B.] am an inhabitant within this Jurisdiction, 
Considering how I stand Obhged to the Kings Majesty, his 
heires and Successors by our Charter and the Government 
established thereby; Do Swear accordingly by the great and 
dreadfuU Name of the Ever-Living God, that I will bear Faith 
and true Allegiance to our Soveraingn Lord the King, his 
Heires and Successors; and that I will be True and FaithfuU 
to this Government, and accordingly yeild Assistance there- 
unto, with my person and estate, as in equity I am bound ; 

And will also truely endeavour to Maintain and Preserve all 
the Liberties and Priviledges thereof, Submiting my self unto 
the wholesom Laws made and established by the same. 

And farther that I will not Plot or practice any evill against 
it, or consent to any that shall so do : but will timely discover 
and reveal the same to Lawfull Authority now here estabhshed, 
for the speedy preventing thereof. So help me God in our 
Lord Jesus Christ. [1665.] 

Freemans Oath 

Whereas I [A. B.] being an inhabitant of the Jurisdiction of 
the Massachusets, and now to be made free. Do hereby 
acknowledge my selfe to be subject to the Government thereof 
(Considering how I stand obliged to the Kings Majesty, his 
Heires and Successors, by our Charter and the Government 
estabhshed thereby Do Swear accordingly, by the Great and 
DreadfuU Name of the Ever-Living GOD, that I will bear 
Faith and true Alegiance to our Soveraigne Lord the King, his 
heires and Successors,) and that I will be true and Faithfull to 
the same, and will accordingly yeild Assistance and Support 
thereunto with my person and estate, as in equity I am bound ; 
And will also truely endeavour to maintain and preserve all 
the Liberties and priviledges thereof, submitting my selfe to 
the wolesome Laws made and established by the same. 

And farther that I will not Plot nor Practice any Evill 
against it, or consent to any that shall so do, but will timely 
discover and reveal the same to Lawfull Authority now here 
estabhshed, for the speedy prevention thereof. 

Moreover I do Solemnly bind my selfe in the sight of God, 
that when I shall be called to give my Voyce touching any such 



38 

matter of this State wherein Freemen are to deal, I will give my 
Vote and Suffrage as I shall in mine own Conscience judge best 
to conduce and tend to the Pubhck Weale of the body, without 
respect of persons or favour of any man. So help me God in 
our Lord Jesus Christ. [1G65.] 

The oath of the Gouno', Dept Gouno^ & other pubUcke 
officers, to runne thus : — 

Whereas I, A. B., am chosen Gouerno', &c., considering how 
I stand obliged to the kings majesty, his heires & successors, 
by our charter and the gouerment here established thereby, 
doe sweare, &c, as aboue. [1665.] 

In their demand for changes in the 1660 Book of the 
General Laws and Liberties, the Commissioners in their 
14th section proposed: ''That, page 33, 'none be 
admitted freemen but such as are members of some 
of the churches w*^ in the limitts of this jurisdiction ' 
may be explained, & comphend such as are mem- 
bers of y^ church of England. " 

At the General Court of 23 May, 1666. 

It is ordered that the Secretary, at the request of all such as 
are admitted to the freedome of this Colony or any in their 
behalf, give a true copy out of this Courts Records, of their 
names, by them to be delivered to the clerks or recorders of 
those Courts in the severall Counties to which they do belong, 
with a copy of the Oath of Freemen as it is now stated , that 
they may there take their Oathes &c. [1666.] 

At the General Court of 15 October, 1673 : 

As an addition to the Law, title Freemen, section the third, 
it is ordered by this Court and the authority thereof that 
henceforth the names of such as desire to be admitted to the 
freedome of this Coinon- wealth, not being members of churches 
in full comunion, shall be entred w* the secretary, from tjme 
to tjme, at the Court of election, and read ouer before the 
whole Court sometime that sessions and shall not be put to vote 
in the Court till the Court of election next followg. [1673.] 

This order of Court was repealed 9 February 1682/3. 

Att a Generall Court, held at Boston, 10*'' of October, 1677. 

Whereas many secret attempts haue binn lately made by 
euil minded persons to set fire in the toune of Boston and other 
places, tending to the destruction of the whole, this Court 
doeth account it their duty to vse all lawfuU meanes to dis- 
couer such persons and prevent the like for time to come. 



39 

Bee it therefore ordered & enacted by this Court and the 
Authority thereof, That the Law, title Oathes and Subscrip- 
tions, page 120 sect. 2., requiring all persons, as well inhabi- 
tants as strangers, (that have not taken it) to take the Oath of 
Fidelity to the Country, be revived and put in practice through 
this Jurisdiction. And for the more effectual execution thereof, 
It is ordered by this Court; That the select men, Constables, 
and Tithing-men, in every town do, once every quarter of a 
year so proportion and divide the precincts of each town, and 
go from house to house, and take an exact list of the Names, 
quahty and calHngs of every person, whether Inhabitant or 
Stranger, that have not taken the said Oath, and cannot make 
due proof thereof; and the Officers aforesaid are hereby re- 
quired forthwith to return the names of such persons unto the 
next magistrate, or County Court, or chief mihtary officer in 
the town where no Magistrate is, who are required to give 
such persons the said Oath prescribed in the Law, wherein 
not only Fidelity to the Country, but Allegiance to our King, is 
required ; And all such as take the said oath shall be Recorded 
and Enrolled in the County Records by the clerk of each County 
Court. And all such as refuse to take the said Oath, they 
shall be proceeded against as the said Law directs. And fur- 
ther, this Court doth Declare; That all such refusers to take 
the said Oath shall not have the benefit of our Laws to Im- 
plead, Sue, or recover any Debt in any Court or Courts within 
this Jurisdiction, nor have protection from this Government 
whilest they continue in such obstinate refusal. 

And furthermore. It is Ordered; That if any Ofl&cer intrusted 
with the Execution of this Order, do, neglect, or omit his or 
their duty therein, they shall be fined according to their 
demerits, not exceeding five pounds for one offence, being 
complained of, or presented to the County Courts or Court of 
Assistants, And this Law to be forthwith Printed and Pub- 
lished, and effectually executed from and after the last of 
November next. And that all persons that administer the Oath 
abovesaid, shall in hke manner make return of the Names of 
such persons so sworn to the respective Clerks of the County 
Courts. Made October 10, 1677. 

Att the second sessions of the Gen 11 Court held at Boston, 
2 October, 1678. 

Whereas it hath pleased his most excellent Majesty, our 
gracious king by his letter bearing date the twenty-seventh of 
Aprill, 1678, to signifie his Royall pleasure, That the Authority 
of this his Colony of Massachusetts in N ew-England, do give 
forth Orders that the Oath of A llegiance, as it is by Law established 



40 

within his Kingdome of England, be administred and taken by all 
his subjects toithin this Colony who are of years to take an oath: 

In Obedience whereunto, and as a demonstration of our 
Loyalty; It is ordered and enacted by this Court and the 
Authority thereof, that, as the members of this Court now 
sitting have readily taken the Oath of Allegiance, so, by their 
Example and Authority, they do require and command that 
the same Oath be given and taken by all his Majesties sub- 
jects within this Jurisdiction that are of sixteen years of age 
and upwards. And to the end this Order be duely executed, 
it is hereby Ordered, that a convenient number of printed 
Copies of the said Oath of Allegiance, exactly agreeing with 
the written copy inclosed in his majesties Letter, and signed 
by the Secretary of State, to be sent forth unto every Magis- 
trate and Justice of peace, and to the Constable of every 
town within this Jurisdiction. 

And it is further Ordered that the Magistrates and Justices, 
or such as are Commissioned with Magistratical Authority in 
every County of this Colony do with all convenient speed re- 
pair to the several Towns and Villages within this Jurisdiction, 
at such time, and in such order as they best may, and accom- 
plish the same; giving forth their warrant to the Constables of 
each Tow'n to convene all the inhabitants of the Age abovcsaid, 
and taking their names in writing, administer the said Oath of 
Allegiance to each of them, and return their Names to the 
Recorder of each County Court to be enrolled. And if any 
shall refuse to take the said Oath, or absent themselves unless 
in case of sickness, the Names of such shall be returned to the 
Recorder of the County, who are to be proceeded against by 
the County Courts respectively, for the first offence whereof he 
is legally convicted, to pay such a fine as the County Court 
shall impose, not exceeding five pounds, or three Moneths 
Imprisonment in the common prison or house of Correction: 
And for the second offence whereof he shall be lawfully con- 
victed, what summe the County Court shall inflict, provided 
it exceed not ten pounds, or six Moneths Imprisonment with- 
out Baile, or Mainprise. [1678.] 

The officials of the Government, ignoring the copy 
of the Oath of Allegiance given them by the royal 
commissioners, took the Oath in Court as it is given 
in Michael Dalton's ''The Countrey Justice," — a 
work of much esteem in its time, which passed through 
some ten or eleven editions, three of which are in the 
valuable Library of this Society, and one of them, 



41 

there is reason to believe, may have been the volume 
used in this historical incident, — all of them declar- 
ing that the same is to be understood as not infringing 
the liberties and privileges granted in his Majesty's 
royal Charter to this Colony of the Massachusetts. 

Regarding the manner of taking the Oath; the New 
England custom was by holding up the right hand, as 
opposed to the custom in England of holding, or 
laying the hand on the Bible, or kissing it. This was 
one of the irritating questions in dispute between the 
Colonists and the Andros faction. Samuel Sewall, 
in his Diary, under date of June 11, 1686, says: "I 
read the Oath myself holding the book in my left hand, 
and holding up my right hand to Heaven." And, in 
1687, Increase Mather discoursed on the "laying the 
hand on and kissing the booke in swearing." This 
question continued to irritate, and was one of the pre- 
disposing causes of the Revolutionary War in the 
Province of New York. In 1772, a Bill was lost in 
Council, "For Removing Doubts in the administra- 
tion of Oaths." This Bill was designed to favor a 
number of people, chiefly from Scotland and the 
north of Ireland, who held conscientious scruples 
against the present legal form of kissing the Bible; 
and allow them to use the form in use in Scotland and 
the New England Colonies of lifting up the right hand. 
The weight of Episcopal authority denied them this 
right. 

In the colonization of New England the figure of 
John Winthrop looms colossal. Given time, he would 
have built an Empire whose only ruler would have been 
the Lord of Hosts. He can hardly be called a Puri- 
tan — his conversion came too late — but he was a 
Congregationalist. His method was so simple as to be 
open to the understanding of anyone, but it was a firm 
principle of government. As an illustration: when 
he was appealed to by a small group of settlers near 
the border line of New Hampshire for information as 
to how they could become freemen of the Colony of 



42 

Massachusetts-Bay, his reply was: "Get a Minister." 
When they answered that they had no Minister, and 
did not know where to get one, again came back his 
uncompromising reply: "Get a Minister." In this 
reply rested his whole system of colonization. It was 
simplicity itself. The English Government recog- 
nized its power when, by Proclamation, they en- 
deavored to prevent the emigration of Puritan 
Ministers from England. "Get a Minister!" Gather 
about him! Build him a church, and homes for your- 
selves and families. This done, you have a Planta- 
tion. When you have thus qualified to become free- 
men, and have taken the Oath of a Freeman, you will 
be entitled to hold office; assist in framing laws, and 
enforcing those already made; and, as members of the 
Commonwealth, be assured that all your rights will be 
protected. This prin,ciple of government was firm, 
but not repellent. If you could not conform to it there 
was no reason for remaining among them. The world 
was wide enough for every one. And you could go to 
Maine, or Rhode Island. Under it was formed a 
government that has never been equalled in prosperity, 
morality and all that makes for happiness. No less a 
personage than Hugh Peters has declared that in the 
six years of his residence in the Colony of Massachu- 
setts-Bay, he had never seen a drunken man or heard 
a profane oath. 

The limits of their territory they continually en- 
larged by firmly insisting upon the border lines of 
their Patent, and even stretching them when near 
some natural boundary; by purchasing the rights of 
New Plymouth in the Colony of Maine, for 400 
pounds, they added a tract of seven hundred square 
miles; by the purchase of the Gorges Patent, for 1,250 
pounds sterling, they acquired a jurisdiction over the 
rest of the Province of Maine which made it a District 
of Massachusetts down to the year 1820. There has 
been a good deal of sympathy, and many unnecessary 
tears have been shed over the so-called banishment of 



43 

Roger Williams to Rhode Island; but it was his friend, 
John Winthrop, who whispered in his ear the desirabil- 
ity of the location of the Providence Plantations. And 
there was no reason why Roger Williams could not 
have gone out from Salem with head erect, and with 
his gaze fixed on the stars, as every good missionary 
should go, knowing that the powers of the government 
of Massachusetts-Bay was as much behind his settle- 
ment, without an Oath, as it was behind the colonists 
of Connecticut, and New Haven, who had gone out 
from Cambridge, Watertown and Roxbury, carrying 
with them the Oath of a Freeman as a principle of 
their governments. In the Union of the Colonies of 
Massachusetts-Bay, New Plymouth, Connecticut, 
and New Haven, of which John Winthrop was the first 
President, a new idea was advanced in his system of 
government, which eventually attained greater re- 
sults. 

It cannot be said that John Winthrop accomplished 
these things unaided. There were others who ably 
assisted him, whose names, also, should be held in 
honored remembrance. But through it all, can be 
seen the firm, directing mind and purpose of a man 
whose vision looked beyond his present to a future, 
and a Republic that was to be. 

And this is why our people should look upon The 
Oath of a Freeman, which was his work, not alone as 
the glorious first fruit of the Printing-Press in this 
Country; but also as a great state paper which ac- 
complished without bloodshed, on a smaller scale it 
is true, all that was achieved, one hundred and thirty- 
seven years later, after seven years of warfare, through 
the Declaration of Independence. 

In Connecticut and New Haven Colonies. 

The colonists of Connecticut, in the main, followed 
closely the general system of laws of the Massachusetts 
Bay Colony, from which they had emigrated. Their 



44 

form of government was theocratic, the Oath of a 
Freeman being the test of citizenship. The settlers of 
Windsor, who came from Dorchester with John War- 
ham, in 1635, did not, however, make church member- 
ship a necessary quahfication for holding civil office. 

The settlers of Guilford, who were joined to New 
Haven Colony, exercised their powers of government 
by a system which conformed to the grant from Lord 
Say and Brook to Theopjhilus Eaton and his company. 
Like that at New Haven it was an aristocracy, but 
modelled in a singular way. As a part of New Haven 
Colony they were entitled to one Magistrate, who was 
their head and invested with the whole executive and 
judicial power. The settlers were divided into two 
classes, freemen and planters. The freemen could 
consist only of those who were church members, and 
partook of the sacrament. They were all under oath 
agreeably to their form of government. Out of their 
number were chosen three or four deputies to sit with 
the Magistrate in General Courts, and all public 
ojBficers. The planters consisted of all inhabitants 
above the age of twenty-one years, with a certain 
estate, which qualified them to vote in town meetings. 

5 t° Ap' 1638. A gen^all Cort at Hartford. 

Forasmuch as it has pleased the Allmighty God by the wise 
disposition of his diuyne p'^uidence so to Order and dispose of 
things that we the Inhabitants and Residents of Windsor, 
Hartford and Wethersfield are now cohabiting and dwelling in 
and vppon the River of Conectecotte and the Lands thereunto 
adioyneing; And well knowing where a people are gathered 
togather the word of God requires that to mayntayne the 
peace and vnion of such a people there should be an orderly and 
decent Gouerment established according to God, to order and 
dispose of the affayres Of the people at all seasons as occation 
shall require: doe therefore assotiate and conioyne our selues 
to be as one publike State or Comonwelth; and doe, for our 
selues and our Successors and such as shall be adioyned to vs 
att any tyme hereafter, enter into Combination and Confedera- 
tion togather, to mayntayne and p'searue the hberty and 
purity of the gospell of our Lord Jesus w'^'^ we now p^'fesse, as 
also the disciplyne of the Churches vf"^ according to the truth 



45 

of the said gospell is now practiced amongst vs; As also in o' 
Ciuill Affaires to be guided and gouerned according to such 
Lawes, Rules, Orders and decrees as shall be made, ordered & 
decreed, as followeth: [The eleven Fundamentalls.] [1638.] 

In Connecticut, it would appear that the Oath of 
Fidelity required of all that were admitted freemen up 
to July 1640, was as follows: 

An Oath for Paqua' and the Plantations there: 

I A. B. being by the P'"uidence of God an inhabitant w*^in 
the Jurisdiction of Conectecotte, doe acknowledge my selfe to 
be subject to the gou^'ment thereof, and doe sweare by the 
great and dreadfull name of the eu"" liueing God to be true and 
faythfull vnto the same, and doe submitt boath my P''son & 
estate thereunto, according to all the holsome lawes & orders 
that ether are or hereafter shall be there made by lawfuU 
authority: And that I will nether plott nor practice any euell 
agaynst the same, nor consent to any that shall so doe, but will 
tymely discou'' the same to lawf ull authority established there ; 
and that I will maynetayne, as in duty I am bownd, the honor 
of the same & of the lawfull Magestrats thereof, promoteing 
the pubUke good thereof, whilst I shall so continue an Inhabi- 
tant there, and whensou"' I shall give my vote, suffrage or 
p'xy, being cauled thereunto touching any matter w'^^ con- 
serns this Comonwelth, I will giue y* as in my conscience may 
conduce to the best good of the same, w**^out respect of p^^son 
or favor of any man; So helpe me God in the Lo: Jesus Christ. 
[1640.] 

The Oath of a Freeman 

I, A. B. being by the P'uidence of God an Inhabitant w*^in 
the Jurisdiction of Conectecotte, doe acknowledge myselfe to 
be subiecte to the Gouerment thereof, and doe sweare by the 
great and fearefull name of the euerliueing God, to be true and 
faythfull vnto the same, and doe submitt boath my p^^son and 
estate thereunto, according to all the holsome lawes and orders 
that there are, or here after shall be there made, and established 
by lawfull authority, and that I will nether plott nor practice 
any euell ag* the same, nor consent to any that shall so doe, but 
will tymely discouer the same to lawfull authority there estab- 
lished; and that I will, as I am in duty bownd, mayntayne the 
honner of the same and of the lawfull Magestratts thereof, 
p''moting the pubUke good of y*, whilst I shall soe continue an 
inhabitant there; and whensoeu"" I shall giue my voate or 
suffrage touching any matter w"** conserns this Coihon welth 



46 

being cauled there unto, will give y* as in my conscience I shall 
judge may conduce to the best good of the same, w'^'^out 
respect of p'sons or favor of any man. Soe helpe me God in o' 
Lord Jesus Christe. Aprill the xth, 1640. 

At a Gencrall Assembly held at Hartford, Aprill 20th, 1665, 
there was presented to the Court the Propositions of his 
Majesty's Royal Commission which were read and answered as 
follows; 

1. That all householders inhabiting this Colony take the 
oath of allegiance, and that the administration of justice be in 
his Majesties name. 

To this we returne, that according to his Majesties pleasure 
exprest in o"" Charter, o"" Gouernour formerly hath nominated 
and appoynted meet persons to administer the oath of allegiance, 
whoe haue, according to their order, administred the s** oath 
to seuerall persons allready; and the administration of justice 
amongst us hath been, is and shall be in his Majesties name. 

2nd Propos : That all men of competent estates and of ciuill 
conuersation, though of different judgments, may be admitted 
to be freemen, and haue liberty to chuse or to be chosen officers, 
both military and ciuill. 

To the 2d, our order for admission of freemen is consonant 
w*** that proposition. 

3. Propos : That all persons of ciuill Hues may freely injoy 
the liberty of their consciences, and the worship of God in that 
way which they thinke best, prouided that this liberty tend not 
to the disturbance of the publique, nor to the hindrance of the 
mayntenance of Ministers regularly chosen in each respectiue 
parish or township. 

To the 3d Propos: We say, we know not if any one that 
hath bin troubled by us for attending his conscience, prouided 
he hath not disturbed the publique. 

4 Propos: That all lawes and expressions in lawes, 
derogatory to his Majestie, if any such haue bin made in these 
late troublesome times, may be repealed, altered and taken off 
the jBle. 

To the 4th p''pos : We return, we know not of any lawe or 
expressions in any law that is derogatory to his Majesty 
amongst us; but if any such be found, we count it o'' duty to 
repeal, alter it, and take it off the file, and this we attended 
upon the receipt of our Charter. [1665]. 

At a Gen" Assembly for election held at Hartford, May 11, 
'65. This Court declare that it is their full sense and determi- 
nation that such persons as are or hereafter shalbe approued to 



47 

be freemen of this Corporation shal take y® Oath that is al- 
ready estabhshed vpon record to be administered to y* 
respectiue freemen : And further, that all such as shal refuse to 
take the said oath, though otherwise approued p''sons yet shal 
not p'take of the privilidges of those that have bene formally 
incorporated into this civil society, vntil y^ said Oath be 
administred vnto them : Provided that this order includes not 
either freemen formerly admitted and sworne or Assistants and 
Comissioners that haue taken their corporal oaths or Deputies 
that haue bene accepted into y^ Gen^^ Assembly to assist in ye 
concernments of this corporation. [1665.] 

In New Haven Colony. 

"On the 4*'' day of the 4*'' month called June 1639, 
all the free planters of the town to be called a year 
later Newhaven, assembled together in a general 
meetinge to consult about settling ciuill Gouernm* 
according to God. * * * Mr. John Davenport 
propounded divers (6) quseries to them publiquely 
praying them to consider seriously * * * and to 
giue their answers in such sort as they would be willing 
they should stand upon recorde for posterity." 

These six fundamental agreements were assented to 
by the lifting up of hands twice: once at the proposal 
and again after when the written words were read unto 
them. 

And on the 25th of October next, the following 
charge was given and accepted by them : 

Freeman's Charge 

Yow shall neither plott, practise, nor consent, to any euill, 
or hurt, against this Jurisdiction, or any part of it, nor against 
The Civill Gouerment here estabhshed : And if you shall know 
any person or persons w*=^ intend, plott, or conspire anything, 
w'''' tends to the hurt, or prjudice, of the same, you shall timely 
discouer the same to Lawfull Authority here established, and 
you shall assist, and be helpful!, in all the affaires of the Juris- 
diction, and by all meanes shall promoue the publique wellfare 
of the same, according to yo' place, abillity, and opportunity; 
you shall giue due hono'' to the Lawfull Magistrats, and shall 
be obedient, and subject, to all the wholesome Lawes, and 
Orders, allready made, or w*''' shall be hereafter made, by 



Lawfull Authority afforesaide, and that both in yo' person, and 
estate, and when you shall be duely called, to giue yo' vote, or 
suffrage, in any Election, or touching any other matter, w"** 
concerneth this Common wellth, yow shall giue it, as in yo' 
conscience, you shall judg may conduse to the best good of the 
same. [1639.] 

At A Gen. Court held att Newhaven the 3<* of Aprill 1644. 

This day, a forme of an oath for the Governo' and magistrats 
to take, and another forme of an oath to be imposed upon all 
the inhabitants w'hin this jurisdiction was propounded to the 
consideratio of the court, who, after some serious debate and 
consideratio rested satisfyed w% the said formes. And there- 
vpon ordered thatt itt should be forthw% putt in executio, 
and whereas the Governo'' doth shortly intend a journey to 
Stamforde on other occasions, the Court desired him to im- 
prove thatt opportunity, both at Stamforde and attMilford, 
for the giveing of the oath, and the like att Guilforde in time 
convenient. Itt was further ordered thatt no person or 
persons shall hereafter be admitted as an inhabitant in this 
jurisdictio or any of the plantations therein butt he or they 
shall take the said oath vpon his or their admittance. 

On the 23 of June, 1644, The formes of two oathes were pro- 
pounded to the Court to be taken the next second day in the 
morning, by all the inhabitants in this plantatio, one of them is 
to be taken by all, and the other by the Governo'' onely. 

Att a Gen^" Court held att Newhaven the 1* of July, 1644. 
The GovernC tooke this oath as followeth, 

I [Theophilus Eaton] being att a Gen''" Co''* in October last, 
chosen Governo"^ w*hin Newhaven Jurisdictio for a yeare then 
to ensue, and vntill a new Governo'' be chosen, do sweare by 
the great and dreadfull name of the ever Hving God, to promove 
the publique good and peace of the same, according to the best 
of my skill, and will allso maintaine all the lawfull priviledges of 
this comowealth, according to the fundamentall order and 
agreem* made for govermn* in this jurisdictio, and in like 
manner will endeuo'' thatt all wholsome lawes thatt are or 
shall be made by lawfull authority here estabUshed be duely 
executed, and will further the executio of justice according to 
the righteous rules of Gods worde, so help me God in o' 
Lord Jesus Christ. 

The Governo "■ haveing allso received the 

Oath of Fidelity 
as followeth, 

I [Theophilus Eaton] being by the providence of God an 
inhabitant w*hin Newhaven Jurisdictio, doe acknowledge 



49 

myself p to be subject to the goverraHhereof, and doe sweare by 
the great and dreadfull name of the ever hving God, to be true 
and faithfull vnto the same, and doe submitt both my person 
and my whole estate thervnto according to all the wholsome 
lawes and orders thatt for present are or hereafter shall be 
there made and established by lawfull authority, and thatt I 
will neither plott nor practise any evill agst the same, nor 
consent to any thatt shall so doe, butt will timely discover the 
same to lawfull authority here established, and thatt I will as I 
am in duety bounde, maintaine the hono"^ of the same and off 
the lawfull magistrates thereoff, promoting the publique good 
of the same whilest I shall continue an inhabitant there. 
And whensoever I shall be duely called a free burgesse, accord- 
ing to the fundamentall order and agreem* for governm* in this 
jurisdictio to give my vote or suffrage touching any matter w'^h 
concerneth this como wealth, I will give itt as in my conscience 
I shall judge may conduce to the best good of the same w*hout 
respect of persons. So help me God in our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Then he gave itt to all those whose names are herevnder 
written, [Two hundred and sixteen names.] [1644.] 

In May, 1665, the Colonies of Connecticut, and New 
Haven were united as the Colony of Connecticut in 
New England. 

Oath of Allegiance 

Administered at New Haven, in May 1666, under powers 
granted by Governor John Winthrop, according to his Maj*'^' 
Charter granted to this Colony of Connecticut in New England. 

You J[asper] C[rane], doe sweare faith and AUegeance to his 
Maj*'^ Charles y® Second, as duty binds according to y" word of 
God. And yo" doe hereby acknowledge that the Pope, nor 
any other potentate hath powe'' or autority or iurisdiction in 
any of his Maj"^^ dominions, and y* only his Ma*^^ our sover" 
Lord King Charles hath under God, supreme power in his 
Ma*'^* dominions. And I doe abhor y® detestable opinion y* 
the pope hath pow'' to Depose princes. And this I doe from 
my hart, soe help me God. 

On the 31 October, 1687, Sir Edmund Andros, Knt. 
took over into his hands the government of the Colony 
of Connecticut in New England. 

In Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. 

The settlement of Rhode Island by Roger Williams, 
being partly occasioned by his refusal to take either the 



50 

Oath of Fidelity, or the Stranger's Oath to the Colony 
of Massachusetts-Bay will account for the absence of 
all Oaths of Allegiance in the early history of the 
Colony which he founded. From the first settlement 
of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence 
Plantations to the present time an Oath could not be 
required of any one; but in its place is required a 
property qualification and an Affirmation. 

Civil Compact 

We whose names are hereunder, desirous to inhabit in the 
town of Providence, do promise to subject ourselves in active 
and passive obedience to all such orders or agreements as shall 
be made for public good of the body in an orderly way, by the 
major consent of present inhabitants, masters of families, 
incorporated together in a Towne fellowship, and others whom 
they shall admit unto them only in civil things. [Richard 
Scott, and twelve others.] August the 20th, [1637.] 

This limiting of the powers of town meetings to 
"civil things," is the first expression in the new world 
of a severance of the bonds of Church and State, and of 
that principle of freedom of conscience for which the 
founder had contended. This first Civil Compact was 
followed, on the 7th day of the first month, 1638, by 
the settlers at Aquidneck, with a 

Second Civil Compact 

We whose names are underwritten do here, solemnly, in the 
presence of Jehovah incorporate ourselves into a Bodie Politick 
and as he shall help, will submit our persons, lives and estates 
unto our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of 
Lords and to all those perfect and most absolute lawes of his 
given us in his holy word of truth, to be guided and judged 
thereby. Exod. 24. 3. 4, 2 Cron. 11.3. 2 Kings, 11. 17. 
[William Coddington, and eighteen others.] 

The 7th of the first month, 1638. We that are Freemen 
Incorporate of this Bodie Politick do Elect and Constitute 
William Coddington, Esquire, a Judge amongst us, and so 
covenant to yield all due honour unto him according to the 
lawes of God, and so far as in us lyes to maintaine the honour 
and privileges of his place which shall hereafter be ratifyed 
according unto God, the Lord helping us so to do. 

William Aspinwall, Sec'ry. 



51 

I, William Coddington, Esquire, being called and chosen by 
the Freemen Incorporate of this Bodie Politick, to be a Judge 
amongst them, do covenant to do justice and Judgment 
impartially according to the lawes of God, and to maintaine 
the Fundamentall Rights and Privileges of this Bodie Politick, 
which shall hereafter be ratifyed according unto God, the 
Lord helping us so to do. 

On the 3d Month, 13 day, 1638. It is ordered that none 
shall be received as inhabitants or Freemen to build or plant 
upon the Island but such as shall be received in by the consent 
of the Bodye, and do submitt to the government that is or shall 
be estabHshed, according to the word of God. [1638.] 

From this arrangement, the first recorded Act re- 
garding freemen in the Colony, a minority seceded, 
taking the Records with them, and drew up the follow- 
ing instrument : 

It is agreed 

By vs whose hands are underwritten, to propagate a 
Plantation in the midst of the Island or elsewhere; And doe 
engage ourselves to bear equall charges, answerable to our 
strength and estates in common; and that our determinations 
shall be by major voice of judge and elders; the Judge to have a 
double voice. [WiUiam Coddington, and eight others.] On 
the 28th of the 2d Month, 1639. 

Agreeing and ordering that the Plantation now begun 
shall be called Newport. 

The remaining members of the Aquidneck settle- 
ment then organized a new government. 

Aprill the 30th, 1639. 
We whose names are underwritten doe acknowledge our- 
selves the legall subjects of his Majestie King Charles, and in 
his name doe herebj^ binde ourselves into a civill body Pohticke, 
assenting unto his lawes according to right and matters of 
justice. [WilUam Hutchinson, and thirty associates.] 

By the Body Pohticke on the He of Agethnec, inhabiting 
this present, 25 of 9 = month, 1639. 

In the fourteenth yeare of y® Raign of our Sovereign Lord 
King Charles. It is agreed. That as natural subjects to our 
Prince, and subject to his Lawes, all matters that concerne the 
Peace shall be by those that are officers of the Peace tran- 
sacted; And all actions of the Case or Dept, shall be in such 



52 

Courts as by order are here appointed, and by such Judges as 
are Deputed: Heard and Legally Determined. 

At the Generall Court of Election began and held at 
Portsmouth, from the 16th of March to the 19th of the same 
mo., 1641. 

1. It was ordered and agreed before the Election, that an 
Ingagement by oath should be taken of all the officers of this 
Body now to be elected, as likewise for the time to come; the 
ingagement which the severall officers of the State shall give is 
this; To the execution of this office I judge myself bound before 
God to walk faithfully, and this I profess in y* presence of God. 

3. It is ordered and unanimously agreed upon that the 
Government which this Bodie Politick doth attend vnto in 
this Island, and the Jurisdiction thereof, in favour of our 
Prince is a Democracie, or popular Government; that is to say. 
It is in the Powre of the Body of Freemen orderly assembled, 
or the major part of them, to make or constitute Just Lawes, 
by which they will be regulated, and to depute from among 
themselves such Ministers as shall see them faithfully executed 
between Man and Man. 

16. It is ordered that Ingagement shall be taken by the 
Justices of the Peace in their Quarter Sessions of all men or 
youth above fifteen years of age, eyther by the oath of Fidelity, 
or some other strong cognizance. 

28. It is ordered and received, that the Ingagement that 
already was given by the Freemen was and is of the same force 
as that oath is which is authorized to be administered to the 
Inhabitants, which oath Nicholas Easton, Rob't Jeoffreys, and 
Wm. Dyre did take in presence of the Courte. 

29. It is ordered, that if any person or persons on the 
Island, whether Freeman or Inhabitant, shall by any meanes 
open or covert, endeavour to bring in any other Powre than 
what is now estabhshed (except it be from our Prince by law- 
full commission), shall be accounted a deUnquent under the 
head of Per jurie. 

30. It is ordered, that the Law of the last Court made con- 
cerning Libertie of Conscience in point of Doctrine is per- 
petuated. 

The Engagement of the Officers 

You, A. B. being called and chosen vnto public employment, 
and the office of , by the free vote and consent y^ Inhabi- 
tants of the Province of Providence Plantations (nbw orderly 
met), do, in the present Assembhe, engage yourself faithfully 
and truly to the utmost of your power to execute the commis- 



53 

sion committed vnto you ; and do hereby promise to do neither 
more nor less in that respect than that which the Colonie have 
or shall authorize you to do according to the best of your 
understanding. 

The Reciprocal Engagement of the State to y^ Officers 

We, the Inhabitants of the Province of Providence Planta- 
tions being here orderly met, and having by free vote chosen 
you , to pubhc office and officers for the due administra- 
tion of Justice and the execution thereof throughout the whole 
Colonie, do hereby engage ourselves to the utmost of our power 
to support and vphold you in your faithfull performance there- 
of. [1641.] 

This Engagement was also agreed to by the Court of Com- 
missioners and Election. September y« 13th, 1654, 

It is ordered by the present AssembUe, that this is y® en- 
gagement of y^ Generall officers any former forme to the con- 
trarie notwithstandinge. 

At the General Court of the 21st of May, 1661, the words: 
"in his Majesties name" was added after ("now orderly met"). 

And Att a Generall Assembly of the CoUony of Rhode 
Hand and Providence Plantations the 4th of May, 1664: 

This Assembly alsoe declareth against any parson acting in 
any pubhke office, except hee first take the engagement 
according to the forme hear subjoyned. 

You, A. B., &c., sollemly engage to be true and fajrthfull 
vnto our Soveraigne Lord the King, Charles the Second, of 
England, Scotland, France and Ireland, and dominiones and 
terrytoryes therevnto belonging; and to his sayd Majesty, 
his heirs and successors, true allegeance to beare and exicute 
your commission, charge and office, according to the best of your 
skill and knowledge without partiallyty or affection to any; 
and that according to the lawes already estabhshed, or to be 
established in this Colony. This ingagement you make and 
ingage to obsearve, vnder the penalty of perjury. . . . 

At the taking of the ingagement by any, ther must bee a 
re-engagement given in the Colloneys name, to stand by and 
assist such parsones in the exicution of ther offices and per- 
formance of ther dutyes. 

It is alsoe the pleasuer and appoynment of this Generall As- 
sembly, that none presume to vote in the matters afforesayd, 
but such whome this Generall Assembly expresly by ther writ- 
ting shal admit as freemen. 

The 19 ^'^ of the ii*'* Month, 1645. Wee whose names are 
heere after Subscribed, having obteyned a free Grante of 



54 

Twenty five Akers of Land a peece with right of Commoning, 
according to the said proportion of Land ; from the free Jn- 
habitants of this Towne of providence; doe thankfully acsept 
of the same; And heereby doe promise to yield Actiue; or 
passiue Obeydience to the authority of established 

in this Collonye; according to our Charter; and to all Such 
wholesome Lawes & Orders, that are or shall be made, by the 
major consent of this Towne of Providence; As alsoe not to 
clayme any Righte, to the Purchasse of the Said plantation; 
Nor any privilidge of Vote in Towne Affaires; untill we shall 
be received as free = Men of the said Towne of Providence. 
[1645.] 

The Preamble to the Law Against Perjury 

Forasmuch as the consciences of sundry men, truly conscion- 
able, may scruple the giving or the taking of an oath, and it 
would be nowise suitable to the nature and constitution of our 
place, who profess ourselves to be men of different consciences 
and not one wilhng to force another to debar such as cannot do 
so, either from bearing office among us or from giving in 
testimony in a case depending; be it enacted by the authority 
of this present Assembly, that a solemn profession or testimony 
in a court of record, or before a judge of record, shall be ac- 
counted, throughout the whole colony, of as full force as an 
oath. [1647.] 

This is the more remarkable because at this time the 
Friends did not yet as a distinct Society, hold to the 
unlawfulness of oaths. And it is in complete con- 
cordance with the teachings of Roger Williams. 

Acts and Orders of the Generall Assembly, sitting at New- 
port, May the 3, 1665. 

Ordered, that this following shall be the forme for engaging all 
officers in this Collony, called to place of pubhcke concernment, 
&c., for the administration of justice, (viz) : 

Whereas, you are, A. B., by the free vote of the freemen of 
this Collony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, &c., 

called and chosen vnto the place and office of , in the said 

Collony, &c., doe soUemly engage true eleageance vnto his 
Majestye, his heires and successors, to beare, and in your said 
office equall justice and right to doe vnto all persones within 
this jurisdiction to the vtmost or best of your skill and ability 
without partiahty, according to the laws estabhshed, or that 
shall be established in this said jurisdiction; [according to the 
Charter as well in matters mihtary as civill.] And this 



55 

engagement you make and give vpon the perill of the penalty 
of perjury. 

The reciprocall engagement is as follows, ordered to be given 
by he that takes or administers the abovesaid engagement. 

I doe, in the name and behalf e of this Collony, &c., re-ingage 
to stand by you and to support you by all due assistance and 
incouradgment in your performance and execution of your 
aforesaid office according to your engagement. 

Ordered, that the forme of engagement aforesaid shall be 
used vntill further order; any former order or forme vsed or 
prescribed to the contrary, or differing herefrom notwith- 
standing. [1665.] These forms were re-enacted in 1677. 

The Commission appointed by the King to assert 
the rights of the Crown to the seven New England 
Colonies, as the first of the propositions of his Majestys 
will and pleasure in Rhode Island, proposed : 

That all householders inhabiting this Collony take the oath 
of alleagence and the administration of justice be in his 
Majestyes name. 

Wherevpon, and in a deepsence of his Majestyes most Royall 
and wonderful grace and favour more pertickerlerly . . . 
in his letters pattents ... in which is expresed his . . . 
indulgence extended to tender consiences, differing in matters 
of religious worshipe and conceanments; and more especially 
in matters of formes of oathes and cerimonyes or circumstances 
relating there vnto, . . . considering therein the liberty of 
concience therein granted. 

The Assembly doe with one consent ... in all cheer- 
full obediance . . . and therein minding the preveledge 
granted to tender conciences, doe in the first place order and 
declare: that whereas in this Collony it hath ben alwayes 
accounted and granted a hberty to such as make a scruple of 
swearing and taken an oath, that in stead thereof they shall 
engage, under the penalty of false swearing, though they 
sweare not in publicke engagement, as well as if they did sweare, 
that therefore this most loyall and resonable engagement be 
given by all men capable within this jurisdiction for their 
allegiance to the King, &c. 

The forme of which engagement shall be as foUoweth: 
You, A. B., sollemly and sincearly engage true and faithfuU 
aleagiance vnto his Majestye Charles the Second, King of 
England, his heires and successors, to beare and due obediance 
vnto the lawes established, from time to time in this jurisdic- 
tion, to yeald vnto the vtmost of your power, according to the 



56 

previlidge by his said Majesty granted, inreligiouesand civill 
concearnments to this Collony in the Charter; which said 
engagement you make vnder the perill and penalty of perjury. 
[1665.] 

They further ordered that "this engagement shall be 
administered to all that are already admitted freemen, 
and that no man shall be admitted a freeman, and all 
men that are householders or aged eighteen or more, 
shall take the engagement or loose the priviledge of 
freemen until they give the engagement premised." 
The passage of this law led to a long agitation by those 
who thought it to be hard on the consciences by many 
whom it rendered incapable from carrying on the 
affairs of the corporation. And, in the following year, 
the Assembly ordered and declared, "That such as are 
free in their conscience so to do, give the Engagement, 
or if they rather choose to give the oath of allegiance 
now required in England, that shall be taken; but if 
there are some words in either which, in conscience 
they cannot condescend to say or use, may in open 
court, or before two Magistrates adopt in equivalent 
words significant of allegiance and submission to yield 
obedience actively and passively, to the laws made by 
virtue of his Majesty's authority, he shall be re- 
stored or admitted as freeman, any former law to the 
contrary notwithstanding." 

At a Court held in his Majesty's name, and under his 
authority, at the towne of Westerly, in the King's Province, 
the 17th of September, 1679. 

The inhabitants of Westerly, being by warrant required to 
appeare at this Court to give the oath of allegiance to his 
Majesty, and of fidelhty to his Majesty's authority for this 
Collony, these persons hereunder named appeared and gave 
oath, viz. [Thirty-three names.] 

The oath given by the above written persons was in these 
folio winge words: 

I doe truly and sincerely acknowledge, profess, testify and 
declare in my conscience before God and the world, that our 
Soverreign Lord, King Charles, is lawfull and rightfull King of 
the Realm of England, and of all other his dominions and 



57 

countries; and that the Pope, neither of himself e, nor by any 
authority of the Church, or See of Rome, or by any other 
meanes with any other, hath any power or authority to depose 
the King, or to dispose of his Majesty's kingdoms or dominions, 
or to authorize any forreigne prince to invade, or annoy him, or 
his country, or to discharge any of his subjects from their 
allegiance and obedience to his Majesty; or to give license or 
leave to any of them to beare armes, raise tumults, or offer any 
violence or hurt to his Majesty's Royall person, State or 
Government, or to any of his Majesty's subjects within his 
Majesty's dominions. Alsoe I doe sweare from my heart, that 
notwithstanding any declaration or sentence of ex-communica- 
tion, or deprivation, made or granted, or to be made or granted 
by the Pope or his successors, or by any authority derived or 
pretended to be derived from him or his See against the said 
King, his heires or successors, or any absolution of the said sub- 
jects from their obedience, I will beare faith and true allegiance 
to his Majesty, his heires and successors, and him and them 
will defend to the uttermost of my power against all conspira- 
cies and attempts whatsoever which shall be made against his 
or their persons, their Crowne and dignity, by reason or clause 
of any such sentence or declaration or otherwise, and will doe 
my best endeavour to disclose, and make knowne unto his 
Majesty, his heires and successors, all treasons and traiterous 
conspiracies, which I shall know or hear of, to be against him 
or any of them. And I doe further sweare that I doe from my 
heart, abhor, detest and abjure as impious and herritical, this 
damnable doctrine and position, that princes which be ex- 
communicated or deprived by the Pope, may be deposed or 
murthered by their subjects, or any other whatsoever. And I 
doe beheve and in my conscience am resolved, that neither the 
Pope nor any person whatsoever, hath power to absolve me of 
this oath, or any part thereof, which I acknowledge by good 
and full authority to bee ministered unto me; and doe re- 
nounce all pardons and dispensations to the contrary. And all 
these things I doe plainly and sincerely acknowledge and 
sweare according to these express words by me spoken, 
according to the plaine and common sense and understandinge 
of the same words, without any equivocation or mentall 
evasion or secrett reservation whatsoever. And further, I 
doe here solemnly engage all true and loyall obedience unto 
his Majesty's authority placed and estabUshed in this his 
CoUony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, and 
King's Province. And I doe make this recognition heartily, 
willingly, and truly, upon the true faith of a Christian. So 
help me God. [1679.1 



58 

No further oaths, or engagements, appear until the 
Administration of Sir Edmund Andros, in 1686, re- 
duced the Colony to the nature of a County under his 
government. 

In New Hampshire Colony. 

As there was no constituted authorities over the 
patent of New Hampshire, the Exeter settlers, under 
the leadership of John Wheelwright, who had pur- 
chased a tract thirty miles square from certain Indian 
Sachems in April, 1638, were driven to the expedient 
of agreeing upon a voluntary association for govern- 
mental purposes. The executive and judicial func- 
tions were vested in a board of three magistrates or 
elders, of whom the chief was styled Ruler. They 
were chosen by the whole body of freemen, who were 
the electors and legislators, their enactments, however, 
requiring the approval of the Ruler. An inhabitant 
had to be admitted a freeman, before he could enjoy 
the privileges of an elector. Under this association, 
an agreement was drawn up by the Reverend John 
Wheelwright, their leader, as follows: 

The Combination for Government at Exeter, with the 
Forms of Oaths for Rulers and People 
Whereas it hath pleased the lord to moue the heart of our 
Dread Soveraigne Charles by the grace of God, King of Eng- 
land, Scotland, France & Ireland, to grant license & hberty to 
sundry of his subjects to plant themselves in the Westerns 
partes of America: Wee, his loj^all subjects, brethren of the 
church of Exeter, situate & lying upon the river of Piscata- 
quacke, wh other inhabitants there, considering w*^ ourselves 
the holy will of god and our owne necessity, that we should not 
live w*^out wholsome lawes & government amongst us, of w*^'^ 
we are altogether destitute; doe in the name of Christ & in the 
sight of god combine ourselves together, to erect & set up 
amongst us such government as shall be to our best discerning, 
agreeable to the will of god, professing ourselves subjects to our 
Soveraigne Lord King Charles, according to the libertys of our 
English Colony of the Massachusets & binding ourselves 
solemnely by the grace & helpe of Christ & in his name & feare 
to submit our selves to such godly & christian laws as are 



59 

established in the realme of England to our best knowledge, 
& to all other such lawes wch shall upon good grounds be made 
& inacted amongst us according to god y* we may Uve quietly 
& peaceably together in all godliness and honesty. Mon. 5th 
d., 4th, 1639. [John Whelewright, and thirty-four others.] 

This was soon found to be unsatisfactory to some 
other settlers, who thought its expressions too lavish 
of loyalty to the King, and, in consequence, of prelacy; 
and while they were willing to acknowledge in a gen- 
eral way his sovereignty, and that they were his sub- 
jects, they had no disposition to make any unnecessary 
professions of allegiance. Another compact was then 
drawn of the same purport, simply acknowledging the 
King to be their Sovereign, and themselves his sub- 
jects. This was executed in due form and went into 
effect as the basis of government. But it did not bear 
the test of trial. Curiously, because it did not con- 
tain loyalty enough. And the original Combination 
was re-executed with the following explanatory pre- 
amble : 

Whereas a certen combination was made by us, the brethren 
of the Church of Exeter, with the rest of the Inhabitants, 
bearing date Mon. 5th. d. 4, 1639, wh afterwards, upon the 
instant request of some of the brethren, was altered, & put into 
such a forme of wordes, wherein howsoever we doe acknowledge 
the King's Majesty our dread Sovereigne & ourselves his sub- 
jects: yet some expressions are contained therein wh may 
seeme to admit of such a sence as somewhat derogates from that 
due Allegiance wh we owe to his Highnesse, quite contrary to 
our true intents and meanings: We therefore doe revoke, 
disannuU, make voyd and frustrate the said latter combination, 
as if it never had beene done, and doe ratify, confirme and 
estabhsh the former, wh wee onely stand as being in force & 
virtue, the wh for substance is here set downe in manner and 
form following. Mon., 2d d., 2, 1640. 

Both the Elders and the People were required to 
take certain prescribed oaths, as follows: 

The Elders or Rulers Oath 
You shall sweare by the great and dreadfull Name of the 
high God maker & Gov' of heaven and earth, and by the Lord 
Jesus Christ y^ Prince of the Kings and Rulers of the earth 



60 

that in his name and feare you will Rule and Governe this 
people according to the righteous will of God's Ministeringe 
Justice and Judgm* upon the workers of iniquity and Minister- 
ing due incurreagm* and Countenance to well doers protecting 
of people so farre as in you by the helpe of God lyeth from 
forren Annoyance and inward disturbance that they may Uve 
a quiett and peacable life in all godlyness and honesty. Soe 
God bee helpful and gratious to you and yo" in Christ Jesus. 

The Oath of the People 

Wee doe here sweare by the Great and dreadful name of y* 
high God, maker and Gouern"" of Heaven & earth and by the 
Lord Jesus X y^ King & Savio'' of his people that in his name & 
fear we will submitt o' selves to be ruld & gouerned by, ac- 
cording to y® will & Word of God and such holsome Laws & 
ordinances as shall be derived theire from by O' hom"* Rulers 
and y^ Lawfull assistance with the consent of y^ people and y* 
wee will be ready to assist them by the helpe of God in the 
administration of Justice and p''servacon of peace with o' 
bodys and goods and best endeavo" according to God, so 
God protect & saue us and 0" in Christ Jesus. [1640.] 

The Combination of the People of Dover to Establish 
A Form of Government 

Whereas sundry Mischiefes and inconveniences have befaln 
us, and more and greater may in regard of want of Civill 
Government, his Gratious Matie haveing hitherto settled no 
Order for us to our knowledge: 

Wee whose names are underwritten being inhabitants upon 
the River Piscataquack have voluntarilly agreed to combine 
our selves into a Body Politique that wee may the more com- 
fortably enjoy the benefit of his Maties Lawes. And do hereby 
actually ingage our Selves to Submit to his Royal Maties 
Lawes together with all such Orders as shalbee concluded by a 
Major part of the Freemen of our Society, in case they bee not 
repugnant to the Lawes of England and administered in the 
behalf e of his Majesty. 

And this wee have mutually promised and concluded to do 
and so to continue till his Excellent Matie shall give other 
Order concerning us. 

In Witness wee have hereto Set our hands the two & twen- 
tieth day of October in the sixteenth yeare of the Reign of our 
Sovereign Lord Charles by the grace of God King of Great 
Brittain France & Ireland Defender of the Faith &c. Annoq 
Domi : 1640. [John FoUett, and forty-one others.] 



61 

Under these forms the administration of the affairs 
of Exeter, and Dover, went on satisfactorily until, to- 
gether with Hampton and Portsmouth, they came 
under the sway of Massachusetts-Bay in 1643; a 
part of the price the latter were ready to pay for the 
extension of their jurisdiction was that the citizens of 
the New Hampshire towns were to be allowed the 
elective franchise without reference to their being 
church members. This arrangement continued under 
the Laws of Massachusetts-Bay, as a part of Norfolk 
County, until New Hampshire became, in 1680, a 
Royal Province. 

In the Generall Lawes and Liberties of the Province of New 
Hampshire, made by the Generall Assembly in Portsm° the 
16th of March, 1679/80 and Aproved by the Presid* and 
Councill. The following is given as the status of 

Freemen 

8. It is ordered by this Assembly and the authority thereof 
y* all Englishmen being Protestants, y* are settled Inhabitants 
and freeholders in any towne of this Province, of y^ age of 24 
years, not viceous in life but of honest and good conversation, 
and such as have 201 Rateable estate w*^out heads of persons 
having also taken the oath of allegiance to his Maj^, and no 
others shall be admitted to y^ Hberty of being freemen of this 
Province, and to give theire votes for the choice of Deputies 
for the Generall Assembly, Constables, Selectmen, Jurors and 
other officers and concernes in y^ townes where they dwell; 
provided this order give no Hberty to any pson or psons to vote 
in the dispossion or distribution of any lands, timber or other 
properties in y^ Towne, but such as have reall right thereto; 
and if any difference arise about s'^ right of voting, it shall be 
judged and determined by y® Presid* and Councill w*^ the 
Gen" Assembly of this Province. 

This Body of Laws when sent to England for Royal 
approval was disallowed. 

In Province or County of Maine. 

The Colonization of what is called in the Charter 
granted by Charles the First to Sir Ferdinando Gorges 
in 1639, "The Province or Countie of Mayne," 



62 

presented many difficulties. The extraordinary 
governmental powers given to the Lord-Proprietary, 
which were transmissible with the property to his 
heirs and assigns, made of it a vast landed estate in 
which there could not be much voluntary co-operation. 
To assist in its government a board of Councilors was 
appointed who before taking office were required to 
"take the Oath of Allegiance according to the forme 
now used in this his highness' realme of England, and 
shall alsoe take the Oath hereunto subscribed. " 

Oath of Councilors of Province of Mayne 

I do swear and protest before God Allmighty and by the 
holy contents of this Book to be a faithful! Servant and 
Councellor unto Sir Ferdinand© Gorges Knight my Lord of the 
Province of Mayne, and to his heirs and assigns, to do and per- 
form to the utmost of my power all dutiful respects to him or 
them belonging, concealing their Councells, and without respect 
of persons to do, perform and give my opinion in all causes ac- 
cording to my conscience, and best understanding both as I am 
a Councellor for hearing of causes, and otherwise freely to give 
him or them my opinion as I am a Councellor for matters of 
State or Common-wealths and that I will not conceal from 
him or them and their Councell any matter of conspiracy or 
mutinous practice against my said Lord and his heirs but will 
instantly after my knowledge thereof discover the same, and 
prosecute the authors thereof with all diligence and severity 
according to Justice, and thereupon do humbly kiss the Book. 
Taken September 2, 1639. 

On the death of Sir Ferdinando in 1647, his estate in 
Maine passed to his son, John Gorges, who totally 
neglected his inheritance not even replying to repeated 
letters from the Gorges Colonists. 

A Patent for lands on the Kennebeck River had been 
given to the New Plymouth Colony in 1629. In 1649, 
they let the trade upon it for a period of three years to 
Governor William Bradford, and four associates. In 
1652, the trade was sold to the same men for three 
years longer. In that year, from actual survey, the 
east line of the Massachusetts-Bay Colony was found 
to encroach upon the liberties of the trade sold by and 



63 

to the New Plymouth officers; and, in 1653, Thomas 
Prence was authorized to summon all and every in- 
habitant of the Kennebeck country to assemble and 
receive from him the instructions of the Plymouth 
General Court : "1. That the people should take the 
Oath of fidelity to the State of England, and to the 
government of New Plymouth. 2. That they were 
to be made acquainted with the Colony laws, applic- 
able to them, and establish suitable rules and regula- 
tions to guide and govern them in their civil affairs. 
3. None were to be inhabitants there but such as 
should take the Oath of Allegiance. 4. None could 
vote for an Assistant but such as should take the 
Oath." 

The Oath required was in these words : 

You shall be true and faithfuU to the State of England, as it 
is now established, and whereas you chuse at present to 
reside within the government of New Plymouth, you shall not 
do, or cause to be done, any act, or acts, directly or indirectly 
by land or water, that shall, or may tend to the destruction or 
overthrow of the whole or part of this government, that shall 
be ordered, erected or established; but shall contrarywise, 
hinder, oppose, or discover such intents and purposes, as tend 
thereunto, to those that are in place for the time being; that 
the government may be informed thereof with all convenient 
speed; You shall also submitt, and observe all such good and 
wholesome laws, ordinances, and officers as are, or shall be 
established within the several limits thereof. So help you God, 
who is the God of Truth and the punisher of falsehood. 
11653.] 

This action constituted them freemen of Massachu- 
setts, on taking the Oath, without the prerequisite of 
church membership. It was followed by a growing 
discontent against the chief officers in New Plymouth 
being lessees of the trade. The large returns which 
had been confidently expected were not being realized, 
and a jealousy of the people against those in power, 
finally led to the sale of the Patent, embracing seven 
hundred square miles, to a committee representing the 
Massachusetts-Bay Colony, for four hundred pounds. 



64 

In 1677, after much controversy and trouble with the 
heirs, Ferdinando Gorges, a grandson of the Lord- 
Proprietary, sold his rights to the Massachusetts-Bay 
Colony for one thousand two hundred and fifty pounds 
sterling, and the Territory of Maine became a District 
of Massachusetts down to the year 1820. 



The power of an Oath is a subject for the Casuist. 
But, in the brief period of this paper — less than the 
span of life the Psalmist gives to man — we have seen 
an Oath throne and dethrone monarchs; build up 
and destroy flourishing Commonwealths; make and 
unmake Statehoods; be a guarantee of peace, and an 
incentive for war. Who, under these conflicting con- 
ditions, can measure their influence but Him in whose 
name and power they are made! 



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